Into The Field Again
by Brianca
Summary: Auggie is cleared to work in the field again and learns first hand what it feels like to be on the other end of the earpiece when things go wrong. Reviews are love!
1. Profound Impacts

**In The Field Again**

_***Authors note***_

_**This is just one multi-chapter story I have planned for this cannon. There is so much that can be done with this material and drives me crazy that the show writers used only two episodes (in 27) to display his talents as an agent. So I'm going to pick up where the writers left off, giving him something other than shoving him behind a desk for 90% of his screen time. This is my first multi-chapter fanfic, and I really hope for this story to be the first in a series of stories.**_

**_Disclaimer: Covert Affairs is property of Matt Corman and Chris Ord. I claim no ownership whatsoever._**

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><p>Auggie sat in the all to familiar stuffy room tapping his fingers nervously on the chair opposite the man sitting behind the desk. He really didn't like this man- not that it was Walden Connors fault, he was just doing his job, but Auggie came to know him as the barricade who prevented him from being able to go out in the field once again and do the job he once loved. As he sat in silence waiting, he took in the sounds all around him; an annoying wall clock, the sound of ruffling papers, and the occasional sigh from the man sitting across from him reading said papers. This was the third time he submitted a request for field work revaluation (the first being mandatory after severe trauma, this time and the last of his own wanting) so he wasn't really expecting a positive outcome from the meeting- far from it in fact, but he figured he'd at least try.<p>

Another sigh broke through his train of thought, this time with an air of finality, then the sound of papers being put down and the sound of a pen scribbling something quickly but lengthy on one of the sheets. Auggie had to school his hopeful expression, noting that the last two times they flat out told him 'no' without as much as touching the files with his name on them. Now however, he seemed to be writing... a lot. This was a new development. In his head there were 3 possible outcomes: the first, being a lengthy message to Joan to prevent a fourth time-wasting submission; secondly, a letter referring him to the psych department because this was now bordering denial-based desperation; and lastly, and the most unlikely of the three: submission approval.

The pen stopped.

_'Here we go again'_ he thought to himself. For a few seconds every distracting noise seemed to have come to an abrupt halt- leaving the room in deafening silence. He swallowed and waited nervously for the sound of the baritone who ultimately held his career in his hands.

Walden took a long look at Auggie before he spoke, the younger agent appeared to be the definition of calm and patience on the surface, the only tell of his inner turmoil being the darting of his eyes all over the room searching for anything that might be of use to his other four senses. _He'd have to work on that _he thought to himself, before finally breaking the silence, "Well August, you put up a good argument, I'll give you that."

"Wait what?"

"Seems like you've been pretty busy since our last meeting,"

"Yeah, about that-"

"You've gone off the books twice, and both times you came back with results as impressive or more so, than any other field agent working in the DPD. Quite impressive. I don't know whether to applaud you, or have your ass canned for such negligence."

That earned Walden his trademark suspicious, yet inquisitive head tilt. "What are you saying exactly?"

"I'm saying that you are still an impressive field agent, despite the fact that you clearly aren't fit for it."

Auggie sat back in the chair, trying process if that was meant to be a compliment or an insult. Either way, it wasn't a 'no' yet so he pressed on; "Does that mean...?"

"I'm lifting your current status and approving you for _very_ light field work. Make no mistake, by 'light' I mean_ light._ You'll only be approved for easy missions on domestic soil, and even then you will always be accompanied with a fellow agent- no solo acts. You also will be monitored closely by my people with all DPD reports coming back to me as well as Joan, and if I so much as see an inkling that you aren't following the guidelines I've set, I will personally have your ass glued to your work desk for the rest of your existence at the CIA. Is this clear?"

Auggie was speechless. He didn't even know where to begin with the emotions that were flooding him "I...-" his breath caught in his throat.

Walden watched as Auggie's schooled features dropped and gave way to honest-to-god relief, happiness, apprehension, and finally self doubt. This clearly wasn't the outcome the younger man had been expecting. "Your solo capture of Felat Afram Khani proves that you can still handle yourself in the field despite your obvious limitations. I'm giving you this chance-not because of your persistence on the subject, but because I think that with assistance, you could still be valuable in the field. Do you understand this?"

Auggie, who was currently fighting back tears of relief, could only nod his answer.

The older man then stood up and walked around the desk to Auggie's side. Carefully placing one hand on his shoulder- so as not to startle him, and the other pressing the folder containing the newly signed documents into his hand, "Your dismissed."

With that, Auggie gathered himself to leave the office, when he reached the door he turned back towards Walden and prepared to give the man the most sincerest 'thank you' he'd ever given, but before he had the chance to utter the words, he was cutoff by the other man-

"-Your welcome Auggie."

At this he gave another nod and exited the room. With his emotions once again schooled as he made his way towards the elevator of the slightly less familiar floor, pressed the button, and entered. Once he knew no one would be joining him on his ride down he allowed the facade to momentarily break. The walls he'd been taught to build crumbled down and gave way to all the emotions underneath. Taking in everything that just happened; Joan had always known he was capable of doing his job after he lost his sight- hell, it was because of her insistence that he even had a job working in intelligence anymore. But not many other superiors held that same confidence in his abilities...Until today. Strangely enough, it would be that realization during the 30 second elevator ride-not the meeting itself, that would leave the most profound impact.

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><p><em><strong>So yeah, I'm probably going to look back and find glaring errors I didn't notice even after the 5th read through. This is going to be the noob question of the year, but is reposting the only way you can edit a story you published? <strong>_

**_Also, any criticism or advice is equally appreciated throughout the story._**


	2. Sailing Ships

_***Authors note***_

_**Ok so these first two chapters are the set up for the story. Seeing as how I want this to be the first of a series, I already have the sequel planned. Please feel free to feed the plot bunnies.**_

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><p><span>Chapter two<span>

Auggie knocked on the door to Joan's office. His signature 'Auggie' knock (one soft, followed by three louder taps) giving him away.

"Come in," Joan said smiling to herself. She looked up to see him carrying a manilla folder in one hand, his laser in the other, with a smile as wide as the sun plastered on his face.

"You might wanna see this," he said holding the file in her direction for her to take.

Lifting an eyebrow she walked over to take the folder offered. She knew him long enough to recognize his cryptic telltales and the myriad of emotions behind them. This one, one she personally hadn't seen in a while, was attached to pure unadulterated happiness and excitement. "This better be good."

"Depends on who for." he said with a laugh as he listened to her paging through, and awaiting her response.

"Oh Auggie..."

Lifting his eyebrows, and widening his grin even further, he waited for her to collect her disbelief of what she'd just been handed and professionally address all the ramifications of this new development in typical 'Joan' fashion. What he was not expecting however, was the feeling of arms wrapping themselves around his chest, pulling him into a motherly hug.

"Joan-"

"Congratulations Auggie."

As Auggie originally predicted, Joan went on to give him short impromptu lecture/meeting that was similar to the one Walden already gave: Lots of precautions with a few casual-but-stern threats thrown in.

Once the laser-wielding young man left her office, Joan stood there watching him make his way down the hall to the steps. Placing her hands on her temples rubbing them nervously.

"Dear God! I don't think the world is ready for this."

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><p>Annie sat at her desk doing the less glamorous side to international espionage: Paper work. From the corner of her eye she caught sight of Auggie making his way back to his office, of course, deliberately choosing the path that takes him right passed her desk. "Your in a good mood today," she said noting the big grin attached permanently to his face "what's going on?"<p>

Auggie, who was still torn between blurting the news to his best friend, or waiting to surprise her later, opted to go vague on the subject; "You will see soon. Hey, you doing anything later?"

"You mean other than eating a TV dinner and watching the downfall of humanity on reality shows, I can't say I have anything planned."

"Great. I think I'm going to head to the gym after work, could use a sparring partner, you in?"

"Oh yeah!" the abrupt all-to-quickly answer received a look of amused whiplash from her friend, making her elaborate further; "After sitting here all day doing nothing but paper work I definitely need something to punch."

"So say about six o'clock?"

"Should be fine. That's if the computer hasn't melted my brain by then. I seriously don't know how you do it all day long."

Before turning back towards his office, He reminded her of the stress ball, the bottle of Patrón, the calming effect of Mingus, and the general lack of eyestrain as the main culprits that stop him from wanting to throw his computer out a window on a daily basis.

* * *

><p>Annie walked into the gym a bit later than expected. She still had a few reports to finish when Auggie closed up shop for the evening and Barber offered to take him over until she was done.<p>

Which is what made the scene before her all the more surprising.

"Now I want you to charge at me with full force,"

Auggie was standing 'prepared for battle' in the middle of a large floor mat with a tired-but-terrified Barber standing in the corner. The stocky computer geek caught the spying audience, who was now leaning herself quietly against a wall, and mouthed silently _you owe me big time._ She held her hand over her mouth stifling the laugh that was trying to burst out of it as she watched Barber reluctantly charge full speed towards the blind agent, only to be met with a swift move that caught his arm from behind and flipped him over, splaying his body onto the mat.

The sound of familiar laughter broke his concentration, "Annie?"

"I hope you weren't planning on doing that with me. You said 'sparring partner-not crash test dummy." she said still giggling at the sight of Barber still superglued to the mat.

Holding his hand for his fallen coworker to take, "Of course not. Just taking an advantage of an opportunity is all."

Taking the hand offered, he looked towards Annie "Ok, I think I'm done. Annie he's _all_ yours. Enjoy!"

"Oh and Barber, don't worry. Next time I'll ask Jai instead." he said giving the stocky coworker a cleverly maniacal smile.

Barber looked all too amused at this idea. "Oh, definitely will do." with that comment he took his exit.

Annie secretly wondered if the mutual hatred of Jai Wilcox was shared throughout the DPD, or was this just a tech geek thing? Auggie's voice broke her out of her train of thought on the Jai enigma.

"You ready?"

"Totally."

They went through all their usual sparring drills: Judo, boxing, and other close combat techniques. Annie noted that all the usual back and fourth banter was cut today. He was really concentrating. Even more so than usual. Also their roles were switched as if she was training him for something. After spotting him and watching him torture himself for an hour and a half, Annie finally called it quits.

"Auggie I'm done and you look like your about to pass out. Drinks on me. Call it a night?"

"Yeah, OK."

Annie watched as he gathered his gear. She _hated_ when he got like this. She'd never truly seen him in combat, but could only imagine what it would feel like being on the receiving end of one of his mood swings caught on a _bad day._ She imagined it like being on one of those old sailing ships in the middle of a typhoon; just unrelenting disorienting fury pounding from every direction until the storm passed.

* * *

><p>At Allen's Tavern Annie brought back two beers to the table, "So what was all that about back there?" she said sliding his drink over in front of him.<p>

No answer.

She touched his shoulder "Auggie?"

Masking the start she just gave him, he gave a distant 'what' look hoping she'd catch it. He didn't exactly catch the original question since his mind was reeling itself in all different directions on about 20 different topics.

"Are you training for some kind of MMA world championship that I don't know about? because that was intense back there."

The worried tone in her voice breaking his revery and bringing him back down to planet earth.

_Now is as good a time as ever _he thought. Giving a mischievous grin, "Just getting back in shape. You never know when I might have to get your back when we're working in the field together."

Annie choked and spat out the beer she had just been sipping. "What?" she managed between coughs.

"They took me off the bench. Granted, It's no pitching position but at least they are letting me try the outfield." this was met with a joyous scream and the sound of footsteps getting up and rushing towards him, the hug he knew would follow came even quicker than he had been preparing for.

"Auggie, I'm so happy. Wait, how?..."

"I don't know exactly, but apparently when you pull a 'Ben Mercer' you earn points with the people upstairs." Ok, that might have been a bad thing to say in retrospect, but he didn't hear anything to suggest she was taken aback by the dig at her ex-boyfriend. There was a comfortable almost bittersweet silence shared between the two for a couple moments until she added;

"We are gonna get in so much trouble together."

They both cracked up at this.

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><p><em>11 Days Later<em>

Auggie sat at his desk frustrated. The stress ball received the brunt of this frustration- he clearly wanted it to suffer. It had been a week and six days counting since they lifted his status and approved him for mild field work. Not a single bite yet. Sure missions went out and came back successfully. Two for Annie and he was in her ear every step of the way without a single misshap to be had. But for him, nothing. He secretly wondered if Joan was going to great lengths even handing out assignments he had been cleared for to other agents, just to keep him safe a little while longer. Giving her protective motherly hold she had over him he would not put it past her.

An hour after he split his stress ball open- killing it, there was a familiar knock on his door.

"Auggie, Joan wants to see both of us in her office."


	3. Molly

**_*Authors note*_**

**_Ok, so I now have the story pretty much all planned out. It will be told in 10-11 chapters and I wrote the entire story outline in the post-it section of my iPhone. Very professional. Ironically enough I got most of my plot research from the CIA World Fact book located on their own website. After watching both Covert Affairs and Homeland, I'm afraid I'm gonna be put on some kind of creepy watchlist just from visiting it. _**

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><p><span>CHAPTER 3<span>

"Molly Harker," Joan said flipping on the Powerpoint as a dozen workers all piled into the small conference room, "she's the daughter of Thomas Harker, an American hacker with ties to North Korean Intelligence, specifically RDEI. As we all know the country is a fortress and remains one of the least accessible to any foreign intelligence including our own. This isolation is both beneficial for their government but its also its biggest downfall, since all their funds go to protecting the nations borders. Their intelligence community often lacks the vital advanced technologies to stay on top of the world of espionage happening outside of the DMZ. This brings us to Thomas; since 2003 he's been hired by the RDEI to collect information; mostly intelligence, but they've also shown interest in secret technology blueprints from our own agency along with the NSA and DHS. He feeds the information back to them via various channels and receives a hefty paycheck for it. The man is ghost, and he is_ very_ good at what he does. Every attempt to locate him has set us two steps back in progress as he continues to evade capture while simultaneously continues to breach vital National security. That was until yesterday when we received word from our own anonymous tip line that Molly, his daughter has vital information about her fathers whereabouts that she's willing to share. Most likely in exchange for safe passage. Like her father, not a lot is known about her other than the fact she's in her mid 20's. There is no photo identification of her _at all_, and the message she left hints that she's extremely paranoid. Now, we are the only agency as of yet that she has contacted with this message," Joan gave the powerpoint remote a click and brought it up for the room, a typed message which she also read aloud;

"_Anonymous tip code 205210- I have key location information about one Thomas Harker. 8/4/11, Dead End Saloon (21231), 1600 hours,COME ALONE! NO DIRECT FACIAL CONTACT, WHERE A YELLOW RIBBON, I'll BE WATCHING -Molly" _

"That's a Baltimore zip right?" Annie asked.

"Fells Point to be exact," Joan confirmed nodding her head "we checked the location and it appears it was chosen because of its relative seclusion in a residential portion of the area-no crossed street businesses or hotels to use as lookout points for us or anyone else"

_Smart_. Annie thought.

Auggie gave a derisive snort, "Been there before. They serve cheap beer but the food quality is questionable at best,"

Joan smiled, "Good. Because you will be the one meeting her there."

The look of surprise on his face was priceless. He could feel the eyes of every person in the room trained on him. He checked out.

Annie who was currently at his side gave him a friendly nudge to congratulate, and also to wake him from whatever vacation his mind was taking at the moment. Deer in headlights have looked less stunned.

Once his attention returned to the matter at hand, Joan continued; "Auggie, you will be Molly's Liaison to the agency. She'll know your CIA but she won't know you, or what your role is within the organization. We will be playing your disability to our advantage- the fact that you cannot _see_ her should make her more comfortable and willing to share information while giving us facial contact via video surveillance attached to your clothing. Now as I said before this is a secluded residential area so we had to resort to occupying the row house across the street,"

"The sole occupant, a widower in her early sixties offered it up all too quickly when the_ 'police'_ offered her an all expense cruise to the Bahamas for the week-" Stu interjected proudly, then effectively shut himself up when he caught the look from his boss.

"-_Annie,_ you will be his eyes via the two-way radio. The rest of Tech Ops," she motioned to the motley crew in front of her, "will be on surveillance. There will also be a backup team of six, three will be undercover in the pub with Auggie, the other half will be staked out in the row house across the street with everyone else."

Returning the nudge she gave him from earlier, Auggie leaned over and whispered; "You get to be the voice in my ear for once."

That got a giggle from the young agent.

Handing out the dossier on the mission, Joan dismissed everyone except for Auggie. Once everyone else cleared out she approached him in her usual stoical manner as she read the slight sign of doubt on his face. She knew that for all his casual confidence displayed on a daily basis, there was twice as much insecurity and self doubt hiding behind it. She was always exceptionally good at suppressing it whenever she saw it bubbling to the surface, beginning to consume him, "You have three days to prepare. You can do this," she said pressing his braille-altered copy into his hand.

At her words he nodded, eyes cast downward, "Its just been a _really_ long time."

"You'll be fine." Her words soft but confident. She put a hand on his shoulder dismissing him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>August 4th (3 days later) 7:00 am<strong>_

Annie and Auggie stood within the Tech Ops office being prepped for the mission. It was Auggie's insistence that they prepare earlier than usual allowing him the time he needed to familiarize himself with the pub. Even though he had been there before and vaguely remembered the layout, it still had been six years so he wasn't taking any chances. The owner Steve Ziebach, allowed them two hours before the restaurant portion opened at noon giving everybody a chance to test run all the equipment and set everything else up. They just had a few finishing touch ups before they left. The ride from DC to Baltimore could take anywhere from 30-50 minutes on a good day, and they had to allow for that occasional 'bad day' where you spend two hours just sitting staring at the Capitol building and monument as they speed by at 2 miles and hour. DC traffic was legendary.

Barber brought over the shirt that he, Auggie, and the rest of the crew had been working on in the past 48 hours. One of his signature gray-blue dress shirts straight out of his own closet now had a tiny wireless micro surveillance camera installed directly into the second from the top button. There was also a tiny microphone chip stashed directly under the top button just above the newly minted camera. Along with the shirt came his wireless earpiece, and finally; his yellow ribbon that he attached to his breast pocket. Changing the shirt, he listened to Stu explain the two-way radio basics to Annie. He allowed himself a moment of nostalgia at the fact that it had been so long since he was on the receiving end of this technology. It was a nice change.

…...

By 11:45 they had everything up and running from within the pub. All cameras and mic's in there designated places. They then brought the bar owner Steve in to vaguely rundown what was going to happen in his own bar; the two seats at the 'L'-shaped bar's left side closest to the wall, and front door, would be off limits to customers all day (they had been the designated seats for the meeting and housed some sensitive equipment underneath) and they introduced him to Auggie beforehand meanwhile keeping him in the dark about the identities of the other three agents. Once every angle was covered they followed protocol and made their way over to the surveillance area across the street. That once entered, except for the four assigned agents at their appointed times, could not be left by anyone until the mission was completed.

The waiting was the killer.

Auggie had taken to checking his watch every other minute and with 12 people crammed in a small row house, it was enough to make even the calmest person in the room a little tense.

"What time is it?" a wristwatch-less Auggie asked Annie nervously while they sat on the living room sofa. At 1:28, the robotic monotone had spoke its final words for the afternoon when one of the backup agents completely flipped out and confiscated it from him. Auggie had awarded that particular agent the nickname _'Agent Asshole' _after that whole debacle.

"2:52. Almost there."

At 3:14 Barber broke the tense silence in the room letting everyone know it was "showtime"

This sent Auggie into full-on 'agent mode' and any of the nervousness he displayed in the past three hours had vanished as his focus on the mission received center stage.

It only took a minute to arrive over at the bar, and he was precisely on time. He then made his way to his seat at the far end of the bar, and placed his cane on the bar countertop to the right of him so that it would look as if it was being reserved for someone-which it was. Finally the last two items on the list were to order a drink, and sit back and wait for her arrival. Thankfully _agent 'ass-hole'_ begrudgingly gave him back his watch so he could keep track of the other three agents arrival walk-in times; 3:22, 3:43, 3:58 each rang the bell above the door at the precise moment. Now it was all on Annie as she skimmed the walk-ins for anyone who fit the female young adult profile.

Across the street Annie sat with a clear view of the pub's entrance. Because of the the narrow one-way cobblestone streets that paved the historic well-lit area, she could see right over without needing binoculars or any other kind of zooming devices. She sat. She waited. 4Pm was apparently a little early for the young adult demo because all she was seeing was a few middle aged ladies out for a late lunch, and a few neighborhood drunks stumbling in early only to be carried out later.

"_Auggie its 4:13 and I got nothing so far. I'm starting to worry. What if this is a trap?"_

He sat there calmly listening to her slightly elevated tone, mildly amused by it, when he was startled by someone pulling the seat out beside him.

"This seat taken?"

"_shit! She must've come in through the back. Stu is the shelf camera operating? Get it running now. We need confirmation."_

"It depends on who for..." figuring that would be vague enough. He started to turn towards her to allow the button camera a clear view.

"_Ok Auggie we have confirmation. She's a petite, brunette, looks a little younger than expected, but she is wearing a yellow ribbon." _

"If you even think about turning around to look at me you can kiss your intel goodbye" she snapped viciously and matter-of-factly.

"_Wow! that's not how a teenager talks..."_

She was obviously on the defense. this conversation needed an icebreaker. "Liver cancer ribbon. In a bar. Very clever."

"Thought it was,"

"_Well_...she has a sense of humor," he said taking a drink. He thought maybe the more laid back he appeared, the more comfortable she might feel to talk.

"And so do you,"

"hmm..."

"The cane is a nice touch,"

He laughed. "_That_ is more of a necessity. You wanted no direct facial contact remember?"

That received no answer.

"So what have you got for us?"

Annie watched the conversation from her side. The camera on the button was only effective if he faced her, but luckily they also set up a camera on the drink shelf opposite them behind the bar. The girl clearly didn't look her age; she was plain looking with her hair cut shorter than most girls her age (that was if she actually were 16, 17)-but not unattractive. She did have an air about her; no nonsense and even a little intimidating for such a tiny package. She watched as the girl...Molly, bent down out of view of the camera to retrieve something. "_Oh wait, now here's a better view."_ she thought as the camera pulled up a nice closeup of her face. _Guess the 'no face contact' has officially been lifted. _As he was apparently 'looking' directly in her direction.

At that precise moment with the girls face in full view, she could see for the first time how truly terrified she appeared to be. It came to Annie's attention just then that he wasn't turning towards her but something...else. A sound. In that moment Annie recognized it immediately from past experience; the telltale hiss of a smoke bomb before it fills the air.

"_Guys I think we have a BIG problem. Frank, Gavin, Joel? Anybody inside have a visual" _Without a moments hesitation the rest of the backup team kicked into action and ran out the door.

Auggie had come to the same conclusion only a few seconds earlier than the voice inside his earpiece. "Molly, we have to go NOW!"

In that moment, instinct overpowered reasoning, and Annie ran to open the front door. She had to help them.

**BOOM.**

The windows blew out. Sending Annie flying backwards along with everything else. Stunned momentarily, it only took her a couple seconds for the adrenaline to kick back and pick up where she left off. Jumping to her feet, not even noticing the minor cuts and bruises, she was off and out through the blown bay window, charging towards the ruins of the once quaint little pub.

The three members of the backup team (_Agent Asshole_ included) who ran out just before her unfortunately did not take cover fast enough and died on impact.

Annie crawled through the rubble of the door frame where the bomb did the most damage. With one hand holding her shirt over her mouth and nose to breathe, the other stretched out in front of her so she could feel her way through the murky blinding cloud of smoke and debris.

"AUGGIE!..."

"AUGGIE! are you in here?"

"Where are you"

Stu and Barber must've crawled in behind her because she could her them calling from inside the room as well. Still pushing forward to where she saw the smoke thinning a bit. She started to make out one still standing tall object amongst the rubble, once she reached it, she realized this was a piece of the bar counter that still remained intact. It was covered in broken glass and liquid, along with various other debris and parts of the ceiling, but she did notice one familiar item in the mess; His cane.

In that moment it hit her that this was where he and the young informant had been sitting. The area, so unrecognizable that the only clue being the cane left where it had been sat.

This sent her emotions into overdrive and panic started meddling with the adrenaline still pumping. Sifting through large pieces looking under for any sign of either of them she heard an audible moan. It was coming from the other side of the standing bar counter. She crawled back over to where she heard it coming from, still calling his name out of sheer panic. But when she found the source she realized it was Steve the bartender who was slowly waking up.

Auggie and Molly were gone.

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><p><em><strong>I'm not even gonna lie, I don't trust myself with OOC's...yet. Mary Sue'ing is the route to all evil. So any original characters I add tend to be inspired by other characters, at least in appearance. I watched Hard Candy yesterday. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions from there.<strong>_

_**Also, this would have gone out yesterday, but I had made lots of good changes once uploaded and when I hit the save button my account logged out. I had added like 60% of the story only to have it lost. I wanted to eat my computer screen alive and ultimately gave up before I had a coronary over it. So I fixed *most* (still missing a few tangents I can't remember) and learned a valuable lesson: to 'copy' before you hit the save button.**_


	4. Greatest hits

_***Authors note***_

_**So to further land me on the possible list of terrorist suspects, I researched Chloroform and its effects this time. I even found some alarmingly creepy people also seeking this information; one of which on Google answers wanted to know the "exact dose to give a 23 female of 125 lbs" **_

_**-Dear internet you scare me sometimes.**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

_"So What have you got for us?"_

She had bent over in the opposite direction from him to grab her backpack, grabbing the inside lining she ripped it back to reveal an additional compartment, one that she sowed back up every time she needed to relocate to a safer location. The object hidden inside was a simple tin canister, one she never left out of her sight. Filled with encrypted flash drives, and memory sticks full of intel, blue prints, and even the very software he invented himself to steal the data, it was what her father called his 'insurance plan' but Molly much preferred calling it his 'greatest hits' none of which he ever got the chance to pass on.

_This should be enough for them at least for now _She thought. She hated doing this. Trusting anyone other than herself was always risky but _trusting_ _them, _of all people, that was just a nightmare. _What else could you do Molly? Collect yourself. You have nowhere left to turn and your back's up against a wall. At least maybe these people might be able to provide some kind of protection if you give them what they want...right?_

Hesitantly bringing the canister that held her sole bargaining chip back up to the bar countertop she turned to her left to see Auggie doing exactly what she told him not to do. "I said..."

He shot his hand to his mouth instantly gesturing for her silence. Tilted his head slightly, Listening, he found it; the telltale hiss of a smoke bomb. Only seconds before the sound of a hard bottle being thrown quickly on the floor behind him, accompanied with the sound of two sets of quickly but all too casually receding footsteps exiting the pub's entrance caught his attention. Annie's voice on the two-way was now starting to panic-not making the situation any better. The whole 'keeping your field agent calm in a crisis and talking them through it' is a learnt skill not easily mastered in under a week.

"Molly, we have to go _NOW!_"

With this she did not argue. "this way." Grabbing his hand and shoving the canister quickly into the main her backpack she pulled him towards the back door from which she came. Flinging it open she was preparing for a mad dash when her companion snagged the solitary step she did not inform him about that led to the alleyway.

**BOOM.**

With the explosion overloading both their senses, they both fell to the cobblestone street. This time it was Auggie scrambling to get Molly out of there. Like riding a bike, military training will always stick with someone even years after they've shed the uniform. He didn't really know the best way to get back, but he heard the faint sound of traffic to the right so taking initiative he followed it. The hollow echo of their footfalls with no crosswinds told him without having to ask where they were; in between a long row of homes on each side. Thankful she called out a few separate obstructions this time, he still cursed her choice of location. Nothing with the name 'dead end' should ever sound like a good place to arrange anything. The cars were becoming increasingly louder, "How much further until the street?"

"About 30 yards."

He nodded and they continued. When they arrived he instructed her to turn right and then released the hand he had been pulling and grabbed her forearm instead signaling her to take the lead. Alleyway's he could do, but unfamiliar traffic patterns made him nervous. Suddenly the sound of violently screeching tires pulled in front of their path, Halting them both in their tracks. He felt her tension instantly and when she started pulling his arm in the other direction he took it as a good sign that they were probably not Government issued vehicles in front of them. Just as they turned to run back the way they came, they both collided with something.

The world around them just faded away.

* * *

><p>Annie, Barber, and Stu had been doing their best to get people out of the pub until help arrived. Some of them including two of their fellow undercover agents who'd been sitting by the front window could not be saved. Two civilians and the entire backup team brought the casualty number to seven. The bomb had been detonated from the entrance doorframe, so the people towards the back of the pub had been a little more fortunate than those of the front.<p>

Joel, the only surviving undercover agent, had some flesh wounds and a mild concussion, but was other wise fine. He had acted faster than the other two and had been making his way towards Auggie and Molly when he saw them fleeing out the back entrance. That was the last thing he remembered.

Annie had felt pangs of guilt for feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, knowing they had made it out safe, when so many others did not. In the distance she heard sirens fast approaching (unknowingly masking the echo of screeching breaks just up the street) They had successfully removed five survivors onto the street, the sixth they did not want to move until help arrived so they kept him as comfortable as possible using the blankets volunteered to them by the surrounding neighbors all doing their best to help the wounded until medical help arrived. They brought out water, fresh blankets, and washcloths to the survivors who were still very much in shock. She had noted absently that it was such a shame that it takes a tragedy for people to willingly pitch in to help one another.

As rescue and medical personnel began pouring in to take over, new waves of worry started to pour over the tired trio sitting on the curb. Auggie and his informant had not made it back yet, and they still didn't know who was behind the bombing.

If a mission goes wrong it was protocol to take cover, wait till the threat was assessed, and then regroup; but Auggie was different. There were situations that he could not so quickly or easily adjust to if something unexpected occurred. It was difficult to admit but she started to understand Joan's reasons for keeping such a tight leash on him. Stopping herself from delving deeper into the train of thought, she thought she'd focus on her nieces: they made her happy. _What art project will they be bringing home for her to finish tonight?_

_...Was Molly in on it?_

__should I buy a poncho after that last finger painting incident?...__

_...Was this whole thing a trap that she unintentionally led him into?_

_Maybe we should just cover the whole family room in that plastic that Dexter uses so Danielle doesn't have another meltdown..._

_...Did she just panic and leave him in the back alley to run? _

"THAT'S IT!" she said standing up and headed to the other side of the street, "I can't sit here any longer,"

"Annie, Joan said-"

"Joan's not here right now. Besides, I don't think she'd take too kindly to her favorite tech op going missing anyway," she snapped.

Barber shot up at that. Whether it was concern for Auggie, or fear of Joan wasn't exactly clear.

"Ok, Stu, you stay here in case he comes around while we are looking for him," she motioned to Barber, "your with me."

"I'll take the left if you've got the right,"

Giving a nod, they both split up in opposite directions to cover the entire block around the pub. Annie ran down the sidewalk, eyes scanning for any clues that might tell her where they had gone. She knew that protocol was to take cover, but that would mean confined spaces in unfamiliar areas and knowing him, he was not going to trust Molly enough even if she was still with him. So that just left the alley's which she was getting around to, or the busier street corner up ahead that she was about to turn left around. Once the quaint cobblestone turned to pavement of the busy two lane street, she noticed up ahead that there were the all too eerie telltale signs of a struggle. Picking up pace, she approached the violent diagonal tire marks that stretched far too long for comfort. She noted the distance between the front and back which meant that it was probably a van that pulled sideways. _This is Baltimore_ she stopped to remind herself, _no need to jump to conclusions. _With that she continued her search until she caught the smell of something that made her heart sink: two rags still soaked in a sweet pungent oder lay in the gutter only about ten feet away. This had just happened.

* * *

><p>Sounds slowly started echoing back into his dulled and aching senses. Everything was fuzzy and muffled. His brain involuntarily made the connection between this and the first time he woke up after the accident. Having endured that particular nightmare countless times before, he surrendered to the inevitable until an alarming sensation of his body being jolted up and back down painfully onto his shoulder woke him immediately. Still disoriented, he moved around as much as he could and found that he was laying harshly on his side with his arms pulling behind his back, legs scrunched up into a fetal position. He also noted something cold and sweaty sticking over his mouth which pulled when he moved his head around. The haze over his senses finally started clearing and he realized that the rolling sensation and the still muffled-but loud noise meant they were in a vehicle. Upon further assessment taking in the stuffy warm air, and the general lack of any space, he came to the conclusion he was in a trunk. The warm-but-still object crammed motionless in front of him meant he also was not alone.<p>

Molly.

The bomb, the feeling of cobblestone beneath him, and the abrupt tire screeches, and that all too familiar smell...it all suddenly came rushing back and he knew with the utmost clarity of what had happened.

Wasting no time, he arched his back and pulled his legs further into his chest, bringing his bound hands close enough to his feet. The kidnappers had obviously never been through a rigorous faux abduction drill at The Farm, because any skilled agent would know exactly how to use that positioning to his advantage. Working his nimble fingers passed his bound ankles, rolling his chest slightly forward and arching further in the process, he reached what he was looking for- and what Joan had no idea he had;

A skinny 3-inch retractable knife located on the inside of his right shoe.

For what it lacked in comfort, it made up for in a bad situation. He was a trained agent and he knew how quickly events could turn for the worse. This knife, along with several others of various size, hadn't let him down yet. Turning it and sliding it upright and out between his clasped hands, carefully so as not to drop it, he then searched for the slit that held the blade and once found, began tediously inching it out until it was fully extended. Turning it so that it was facing outward and pointing upright he pushed the dull end back into his shoe at the heel to steady it there. The rest was easy.

Once his arms were freed he used the knife to cut his ankles and then turned towards Molly. She was still not moving as he untied her limbs. This was worrisome but he knew that if it was indeed chloroform, the smaller the person is the longer the effects can last. He checked her pulse, and feeling her chest, made sure that her breathing was steady-which it was. Rolling back in the other direction towards the cars interior he then strained to listen for any voices he might hear talking inside.

The only thing he could hear was muffled sound of Kenny Chesney. Terrific.

Time seemed to be crawling by at a standstill. In the passing time-what like hours was probably only minutes, during that time he checked for his earpiece and buttons which surprise, surprise, were all missing. Aside from doing their main purposes, All three could also function as highly functional GPS trackers. However anyone with a scanner and half a brain could easily find their signature- which they did.

There was movement and an audible grown beside him.

"Molly?"

Another moan.

He called her name again this time shaking her a little. The slow stirring movements became increasingly sharper and more violent as panic set in and she became more and more aware of her surroundings. He could tell what was going to come next: a lot of thrashing and screaming which would do neither of them any good.

Wrapping a leg around hers, and his arm over her mouth he quietly but calmly whispered "Molly, calm down. Its scary-believe me I know, but your going to have to trust me, ok?"

She tried to struggle but calmed once he started rubbing circles against her back with his other hand. He figured that with the Kenny blaring in the front seat now was as good a time as any to find out what he was dealing with.

"Now, did you get a good look at the guys who captured us?"

She nodded up and down and the hand that was still lightly cupped across her mouth felt tears falling into it.

"I'm going to let go as long as you promise not to scream, ok?"

Another nod.

"Now what did you see? Did you recognize them? Or were the faces hidden? If so, do you know who they might be?"

"I know _exactly_ who they are. Their faces _were_ covered, but I didn't have to see them to know why they were here." the emotional distress in her voice was evident, she sounded terrified to him. It was such a sharp contrast from the cold and collected young woman he encountered at the bar earlier. He recalled her reaction just before they were apprehended; how her whole body tightened against his grip pulling him back as if she had just seen Lucifer himself.

"They were after you?"

"They work for my dad. There's 5 of them. Skilled mercenaries he hired to protect himself once he had enough money and became too paranoid to know what to do with it. They are ruthless, and they will kill _anyone_ who gets in their way without a moments hesitation. Believe me, I've seen them in action."

"That's why you came to us? For our protection?"

"What other choice did I have? When I was little my dad would have used me as a human shield to save his own skin. I was valuable to him and that's the only reason why he didn't abandon me in the first place. But once I turned 18, everything changed. I became a liability, someone who was no longer a child that pursuers would be afraid to shoot at, and who already knew far too much about his profession. Once I saw his paid assassins go from protecting me invaluably, to eyeing me like a piece of suspicious raw meat that'd been left out to long, I figured it was time to split, taking some of his most valuable programs and intel as leverage. That was two years ago.

Auggie thought for a moment. If that was true, the intel would be old, really old, which didn't seem like something the RDEI would want...unless what she took was _extremely valuable. _"What on earth did you take?"

"His programs he designed, some blueprints that looked really important, and a ton of intel on operations dealing with North Korea. He referred to it as his 'insurance plan' which he added to over the years inside a safe, meanwhile passing other vital information through so they didn't get suspicious. Where he made his mistake, is that everything I know I learnt from him and I think that while he saw me as liability, he also turned a blind eye because I was his 'little girl' and therefor, would never betray him. All it took was a video camera I set up inside my room with two angled mirrors to catch the digits he punched in and then I took off. That was easy. Everything turned a lot more dangerous after that.

Auggie chewed over that information for awhile, running scenarios and working on possible plans.

"Ok, Molly here's what we are going to do..."

Three times the car had stopped since he devised an ill-conceived escape plan-not like he had a lot of choices to choose from, but each time they steeled themselves ready for action, the shoes that walked out of the car never approached the trunk. Stopping just behind the rear door to refuel. Wherever they were going it was a long ride.

"Hey!" a soft voice whispered in front of him.

"Hmmm..."

"Can you tell me what your name is? I know you people are big into secrets and all but I'd like to know the name of the person who I'm sharing precious oxygen with."

She earned a small smile with that one. "Its August. But I go by _Auggie._"

"Huh."

"Huh?" the exaggerated tone in his voice intentionally incredulous.

"Nothing," she said drifting into a slight mumble "_Just_ when I contacted the CIA...for help I kinda expected..."

He could filll these blanks in easily, "Not a blind guy named Auggie?"

"bingo."

With that they both fell silent for awhile inside their own thoughts, until a more abrupt stop jolted them both back to reality. This time Auggie heard the sound of a larger vehicle pull up right behind them. He listened keenly as a door to a _van_ slid open aggressively, and heavy footfalls landed on the ground and heading in their direction. He felt her head snap in his direction looking for any trace as to what to do. Three words were all that were needed.

"_This is it."_


	5. Precious Cargo

_***Authors note***_

_**So after watching Annie use the EXACT method of escape that I was planning to use in 2x15 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth' I realized I had better change mine. It's so weird seeing something you unknowingly wrote the night before the episode aired, play out on the actual show. It totally stole my thunder LOL.**_

_**This chapter is a little racier content wise, I tried to keep it vague enough, but I'm not sure I succeeded. Might have to up the rating.**_

Chapter 5 

The door to the large black van slid open. Revealing the four large gun wielding occupants: The first was Nikov, a former criminal turned trained soldier of the Russian Ground Forces- now discharged for corruption, followed by Miguel and Dash two ex-cons who started working together out of Miami as hired arms for cocaine smugglers, and finally the eldest and most experienced of the group was Hogan, a former PMC for Blackwater with more than 20 years experience working as a hired hand. The rest looked to him as leader.

All four made their way over to the smaller vehicle that was driven by Jennings, the fifth, the youngest and newest addition to the group. He had been brought in for his tracking skills after Molly had vanished. Growing up in the back woods swamps of Louisiana, he honed his skills as a tracker eventually pursuing bounty hunting until Thomas Harker had knocked on his door with a pricey job offer.

"Dammit Jennings you sure took your time. Your grandpa teach you to drive like that?"

"Hey you know, precious cargo and all of that. Didn't want to look suspicious..."

The four of them chided each other loudly for a couple minutes, while Hogan remained cool and silent as he leaned against the van biding his time with a smoke. He loved that. Keeping a distance, waiting, letting his prey boil in fear even long after they were captured. It made him feel powerful and it was that that kept him in the business for so long.

The _'precious cargo'_ inside was the complete opposite.

Auggie's plan consisted of basically lunging himself at the first person to open the trunk while Molly pulled back the panel that led to the cars back seat, climbed through and hijacked the car. It was not stealthy, nor was it by any means a good plan, but the element of surprise was the only thing he had working in his favor at the moment. He sat listening to the exchange discerning four distinct voices of various dialect until a set of heavy footsteps making their way towards the trunk received his full attention.

He readied himself for attack.

Suddenly, a loud and perky double knock sounded from directly above him. Hogan was enjoying himself. With a hardy Southern drawl he continued;

"_Just wanted to let the two of you know we had the inside of the trunk mic'd, so that little plan you hatched Auggie,_ _made for a veeeery entertaining soundtrack to our ride. Thanks for that." _

Auggie could only wince. His plan was shot to hell.

* * *

><p>Back at the DPD, Joan sat in the interrogation room calmly and menacingly looking over the two young men nervously sitting opposite her. Without a word she took out two black and white surveillance photos and slid them across the table, not taking her eyes off of either of them.<p>

"Why?"

The two leaned over to glance at what had been put in front of them. Their body language giving them away ten fold. Nervous, unprepared, and both looking like they were about to cry. Neither of them were experienced criminals but Joan could tell as much even before she entered the room, based on the fact that they had been careless enough to be caught on camera in the first place. One photo showed Brian Halmes, a chubby freckled caucasian age 22, walking into the front door of the pub with a canister in his hand, the other a skinny African American, age 19, named Damon Troyer shown with his hand reaching up at something directly above the front door.

The room was silent.

Annie and Jai along with a couple others watched this exchange quietly on the other side of the glass.

"Bets on which one she makes cry first? Jai offered.

"not in the mood Jai," she said staring dejectedly. She was exhausted both mentally and physically and his comical timing left a lot to be desired.

"worried about Auggie?"

_no shit jai._

_"_People baby him too much," he turned towards the mirror casually not glancing in her direction, "Truth is, he's a skilled agent who knows what he's doing. He'll be fine," with that he left the room, leaving Annie to think about that as she watched the live version of 'Shark week' happening on the other side of the glass.

Back in the room, Brian was the first to lose the silence game: "We...we didn't know what..."

"You didn't _know _what the contents of a canister that read _'smoke bomb' _would do?"

"We did that- yeah, but we had no idea about the other being a real-" Damon added,

"-So you thought it was what exactly? A door decoration you were detonating?"

"Look. A huge scary guy with dark hair and a Russian accent approached us the night before and said he would give us each $10,000 if we _"scared a bunch of people"_ at the bar down the street."

"And you didn't think for one second that a "_big scary Russian guy"_ who neither one of you had met before, offering you lots of money, might be _lying_?"

They looked at each other like the thought had not occurred to either of them. With a shrug Damon added "Well, he showed it to us...the money Looked legit-"

"-and we've done little prank jobs like that before, so we figured this would be the same," the other chimed in.

Joan rubbed her temples furiously at the two morons sitting in front of her. They had nothing to go on except for these two caught on camera and frankly, they both seemed to be sharing the same brain. One that had very little room to be shared.

"Ok... so could you describe this man?"

* * *

><p>"C'mon you two," Hogan said issuing Miguel to take a hold of Auggie, and Dash, Molly. "you both get a 10 minute bathroom break before we continue on. We got a long drive ahead. Don't make me regret the courtesy."<p>

Auggie felt an irritating push from behind him, and then the slightly more alarming feeling of a gun pressed between his shoulder blades as the man behind him led the way.

"Don't _try_ anything. They might want you alive but I won't think twice about putting a few bullet holes in you to slow you down," sliding the gun down a little lower to his waist he whispered into his ear "this area, would_ really_ slow you down. _Permanently_."

Auggie nodded his agreeance outwardly, but inwardly was carefully coordinating a much more workable escape plan. He had already sized Miguel up as about the same height and age as himself, maybe a tad huskier, and of Cuban descent. Probably a skilled shooter but not much of a fighter given his smaller size and his heavy reliance on his gun to appear menacing. He smiled to himself- he could probably take this guy.

With a final push forward the gun wielding man added "go,"

"Seriously? right here in front of you? Couldn't you at least, for the love of god, turn around first?" bullshitting people was always one of his greatest forte's.

"What would it matter?"

"It would make me feel better. Performance anxiety makes me nervous."

"Fine, make it quick." He said turning around.

Auggie waited till he heard the footsteps turning in the other direction then stopping.

_This was becoming fun._

"I can still hear you standing there. It bothers me,"

"but not I'm not watching,"

"Oh come on man! Give a guy some privacy, where the hell you think I'm gonna go?"

He must of made his point because the footsteps receded twenty steps in the other direction.

...

Molly could hear Auggie's loud protests echoing through the woods on her side. This both amused her and gave her a fair warning that he was up to something. _Miguel was never the thinker of the group_ she smiled to herself walking towards Dash who wasn't quite so trusting of his particular prisoner.

"Something funny?"

"yep, he makes me laugh," she added casually, catching his not so subtle look.

Dash had always watched her a little more keenly then the others. This never escaped her attention and even now with his gun held in her direction she didn't doubt one second he'd protest the slightest if she took him then and there.

This gave her an idea.

Tilting her head coyly and walking towards him, "you jealous?"

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" The gun was now aimed directly at her head.

"Yes." not bothering to look up from the nail she was biting, she continued approaching him until she made contact with his chest. Leaning seductively into his ear she murmured, "but I also know you won't kill me if I did this," grabbing the crotch of his pants aggressively. This was too easy.

...

Once Auggie was finally alone, he quickly bent down and pulled his knife from his shoe and stuffed it in his pocket just in case. He placed his hands on the ground in front of him, running his fingers over anything he could find to use as a blunt force object. Though a rock had been his ideal weapon of choice, he couldn't complain when his fingers found a heavy downed tree branch only a couple steps down the trail. Using it as a cane to navigate, he walked a little further down the worn path till it hit large uprooted tree to the right of the path. The slightly elevated roots spiraled around it in a way that the area around the other side was higher than the path below shielding anything that should hide behind it. Perfect. Relying on senses most take for granted, it gave him a distinct one on one advantage over his opponent and this was a skill he had honed rigorously. He was the ultimate ambush predator.

…..

Hogans voice echoed through the thick woods of North Carolina, issuing both men to bring their captives back.

Miguel who had been sitting up against a rock waiting for his, accidentally nodded off in the heat of the afternoon sun. Springing into action upon hearing his boss's voice, he grabbed his gun and rounded the corner into the clearing where he had left him.

Gone.

Miguel started laughing, "now, you earned yourself a bullet hole," he quickly began following Auggie's footsteps down the beaten path "your making this too easy for me man," he followed them directly to the large tree, "did you really think you could outrun me?"

Auggie listened to the man approaching all too loudly for his own good. His voice unknowingly pinpointing his precise location.

_1...2...3..._

Miguel's face met the stick with a sharp blow sending him tumbling backwards to the ground, the gun landing just out of his reach. Standing quickly to recover the gun, another blow landed him on the backs of his ankles pulling the forest floor out from under him In one disorienting swipe. He started crawling backwards as the blind man with the stick unnervingly approached him unerringly. Slowly and silently following his every sound like a heat seeking missile. It was then that Miguel noted he may have slightly underestimated him- a tad, "you think your pretty hot with that stick don't you? lets see what you can do without your little poking stick," he charged at the blind man head on.

Bad idea.

Like Barber in the gym, Auggie easily caught his arm stopping the forward momentum all to quickly, and sending him flipping forward onto his back, there he pinned him down and proceeded to unleash what Annie would call "bottled chaos" directly into Miguel's face.

…...

Dash was slightly preoccupied by the hand that had him when he heard Hogan's announcement. At the sound of Miguel's calling out for his missing captive, she figured it was time to change her tune suddenly she grabbed him...hard. Then twisted. As he curled over in pain she snatched his gun and took a shot without hesitation at his right knee. Turning away from the screaming man wriggling in pain, she took off towards her CIA agent. _Hers?_

In that moment she realized something; Auggie was fast becoming something she had never had before in her life: a friend. She made her way over the clearing and down the path, expecting to find him cornered with a gun pointed at his head.

She gasped at what she actually found.

Miguel was splayed out on the ground unconscious and beaten to a pulp while Auggie calmly and quietly prodded the ground in search of the gun that he knew the other man dropped.

"4 feet in front of you at your _3 o'clock_"

"Thanks," finding it and holding it out in her direction,

"no problem," she said, still a little stunned that the blood all over the unconscious mans face matched the blood that was all over Auggie's fist- the only place on him that held any evidence of a fight ever happening, "your pretty badass,"

The complement did not reach its desired location as he was once again in scanning mode. Listening to the sounds of sticks crackling and leaves crunching as they approached heavy footed "They are coming straight this way molly. Did you see anywhere to take cover over where you were before?"

"no but we're in the middle of a forest so it shouldn't be that hard to find a place," taking his arm, remembering how he did it the day before, they both took off further into the woods heading west towards the mountains.

* * *

><p>Joan stood watching the sunset from her office window. It had been well over 24 hours since Auggie and Molly had disappeared and no traces of either could be found. Every angle seemed to had been conducted by a third party, and no vehicles reported matching the tire marks at the scene. The only thing she really had to go on right now was the description of a 'scary russian' by the two rocket scientists down stairs. Catching a glimpse of her own faint reflection on the window pane, the look on her face was deceivingly calm and contemplative on the outside, however, the thoughts on the inside were anything but.<p>

She never wanted children of her own-never had, but the first day a 22 year old, fresh-faced August Anderson walked into her office looking something like a cocky 16 year old with a CIA issued photo ID, she felt an instantaneous need to to protect and guide him. Something she assumed was akin to a motherly bond. It was a feeling that was never reciprocated from his side until he woke up one day to total darkness and the first arm to guide him had been hers. It was a total and complete trust he held in her from that day on.

But now, now she felt as if she had let him down. It was still her responsibility to keep him safe just as it always had been, sure he may not appreciate it, but it was always in his best interest. Being in the field again unfortunately was not. It was moments like this that made that reality all too clear.

* * *

><p><strong><em>This will probably need some re-editing since I've been a bit distracted (and an emotional trainwreck) the passed two days. We had to put down my 6th month angel of Ragdoll kitten after being diagnosed with <em>Feline infectious peritonitis<em> (_FIP_). Five days ago he was a normal kitten and then he started having upper respiratory problems, by yesterday all his organs shut down. 5 FREAKING DAYS!_**


	6. Out Of The Wilderness

_***Authors note***_

_**Sorry it took so long getting this chapter out. I'm currently living in a renting a place that has no internet. The good thing about that is that it allows me to focus on the story I'm writing, the bad thing is that I have to wait until I can get to a library or Starbucks to actually upload it.**_

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

They walked down the stoney uneven trail together, Molly doing the guiding while Auggie did most of the supporting. Her body was dragging from exhaustion and his wasn't quite far behind. As the sunlight faded and temperature dropped, having heard no signs of the pursuing party, he made the executive decision to sit down and take a break.

Pressing her tired body to the forest floor, "Molly we can't keep running like this. We need to stop and think for a while," he told her.

"about what?" not managing to mask the heavy resignation in her words.

"our next plan of action,"

"well mine is not getting shot or worse so..." she argued as she tiredly started to rise to her feet and continue in the direction they had been heading, she was halted instead by a set of hands pressing firmly but gently on her shoulders back in the direction of the ground beneath her.

"Nuh huh. You need to rest."

"but-"

"-don't worry, we are fine where we are right now," the hint of irritation in his voice evident as he stood up suddenly and began doing what Molly only assumed to be his version of pacing. She watched as he took 5 steps away, turned, and then back, then repeated the procedure a couple times over until he came to a dead stop facing away from her.

"What is it?"

"we have to go back. We need your canister."

"your suicidal," she added but seeing as it didn't seem to deter his thoughts at all, she clarified, "I've been on the run from these guys for two years, and mind you I'm not an easy person to catch. They don't play games, and they are good-_really good_ at their jobs-"

"-so am I," he cut in with an assurance that she had not known he was capable of, "and my job is to make sure that that intel doesn't fall into the wrong hands,"

"I thought your job was to keep me safe," she admitted.

Those words hit him like a stack of bricks. Her voice so small and vulnerable, broke through that rough exterior she had built up to survive, revealing a scared little girl behind it. He had no words to assure her that that was what he was here to do because it wasn't, his job was first and foremost intelligence gathering, anything else being secondary. "Molly I..."

"don't," she snapped, with a ferocity that must've made that little girl cower far away in her subconscious "lets just do this," grabbing his arm she tugged him back in the direction towards the car.

He couldn't tell for sure but it almost sounded as if she was trying to fight back tears she didn't want him to hear.

For the next hour they walked back in silence. She'd pull him without words if there was anything obstructing their path, but other than that he did a good job of backtracking the fairly even, worn down path. Stopping when they came to a gently rolling stream that they had passed but didn't bother to stop at before, she took his cue to rest for a moment.

"So how is this going to work?" she whispered not knowing where her hunting party of 3 plus Dash and Miguel and whatever state they were in, had gotten to.

They had not encountered so much as a single sound of them in the distance after they fled Miguel's body and headed on a trail northeast to evade them. It was making both of them increasingly paranoid the closer they got to approaching the car without incident.

It was then, with his back resting against a twisted tree jutting out of the embankment, that he realized that there was _no way_ of doing this that would not put Molly directly in danger.

He thought back to a time when this kind of intel retrieval would be a cakewalk for him- fun even, he had long ago craved that rush that came from not knowing just what or who was waiting for him when he scoped out a target, but now... it was all different. The signature traits that had once defined his talent as a field agent were all but gone, lost with everything else from his old life. All it took was this young girl who was depending on him to get her out of this mess, to notice it. Inwardly cursing his blindness for preventing him from doing both the job he once loved and the task at hand, he fell into that cloud of despair and self doubt that Joan worked so diligently to keep him out of.

Reading the waves of emotions he seemed to be battling- not so covertly, she gently called to him from her spot on the ground hoping to bring him out of whatever burden that brought this on. When he showed no signs that he heard her, she then stood up and walked over to him reluctantly placing a hand on his shoulder "hey?"

"your the only one that can look for it," he said not bothering to address her presence any further, this was stating the obvious to Molly and she started to smile until she saw him slam his head back against the tree in defeat, "sorry Molly."

She had not known him for long, but from what she could tell so far was that he was a man who's actions spoke louder than his words. It was a complexity that she had always admired in others but in his case, what he didn't say outwardly could be eating him alive inside and no one would no the wiser. Immediately regretting what she had said earlier, she closed her eyes to collect herself and added "I can do this. That way not only will we have my fathers _'greatest hits_' but we will also have a get away car too,"

"its not going to be that easy," he said still fighting his way out of whatever black hole he had dug himself into "neither of us have heard them and as good as you say they are at tracking..."

"-I know." she had been considering the 'trap' angle too. She stood up mulling over her thoughts till her attention caught the green glow of a shape in the distance, lit by the moonlight that surrounded it, she recognized it as one of the brick-shaped trail markers. She had an idea; "Lots of these trails loop around to join with others. They are marked as such with a signature color that matches the trail it split away from, and the one located about 20ft behind you now is green," she gestured in the direction behind him, "but if we find one that's orange, it'll mark a shortcut that will take us directly back to where the car is- just a different path of getting there. I saw it on a tree where Dash had me before I shot him and then found you."

He could tell she was gesturing dramatically with her hands, pointing in all different directions as she spoke. That action was lost to him, however, her enthusiasm in her voice while she was explaining it, was not.

He let out a short laugh at how much that reminded him of Annie. How she could just go on and on with her stories getting so carried away not realizing her audience was only receiving the audio portion of the show. "you almost remind me of someone," he said as he held his arm for her to take. The only difference being the casual admittance that she had '_shot Dash'_ but he figured that had more to do with her less than stellar upbringing. _You only have the morals you are taught to have _he thought.

"who?" she asked inquisitively as she took hold.

changing the subject "You shot Dash?"

"don't change the subject,"

when he didn't give her an answer she wanted, just a wry smile, she hit him teasingly

"Ouch. Now you _really_ remind me of her," he added laughing as quietly as possible.

…...

A while later after finding the tree in question, and verifying their precise location in relation to the cart, Auggie once again took charge of a plan. "there's a road to the left of us am I right?" he heard her walk over to it and confirm his suspicions as she saw a car off in the far distance that must've alerted him to it "if the car is as close as you say it is, then thats a pretty safe bet its how we got here. Scanning the area first, if you can then sneak up to the vehicles as quickly and as quietly as you can. Check all the doors, most likely they fled in such a haste that they probably forgot to lock a few things down. The canister will probably be somewhere secure-like a glove compartment or any other concealed out-of-sight location. They won't risk taking it with them. When or '_if'_ you find it then look around for the keys, if found, then head in this direction," he motioned to the street, "If you can't find any then just head back this way on foot and we'll try to flag someone down together. Either way, toss a small rock in my direction to let me know its you."

"what if its not me and its the 'fab 5' instead?"

he stopped to consider it and then added "take cover immediately wherever you can till the coast is clear. I'll be fine, I've walked with you long enough to be able to tell your footsteps from theirs. Just make sure you throw a medium sized rock in my direction first. Not too small to be a pebble falling, but not large enough to kill me either if your aim is wrong, k?"

"got it," she patted him on the shoulder to mark exit, making sure he was well hidden, she took her leave and heading towards the cars. Upon arrival of the clearing she waited behind a tree scoping the location.

Nothing. Not even droplets of blood from one of the injured glimmering under the bright moon above. _They must not have come back _she thought looking around suspiciously.

Quickly she followed all of Auggie's orders. She checked the car first; all four doors were locked but she noticed the trunk was still open a crack to where they were most likely going to be shoved back in upon leaving. Remembering the previous trunk plan Auggie had thought up, she opened it and climbed in, pulling the hatch that led to the backseat just as instructed by her liaison previously. She groomed over every inch of the interior. Once that turned up nil, she got out and headed to the truck where the morons had left the sliding door open a crack. The inside of truck had no seats just storage for equipment and ammunition, searching through the contents of the entire back, she once again came up with nothing. Moving to the front seats her eyes immediately picked up on a bright red flannel shirt placed a little to 'casually' on the passengers seat.

_could it really be this easy? _She thought as she lifted it revealing exactly what she had been looking for underneath. Once the contents inside were checked and accounted for she began searching for a set of spare keys. She bent over and felt around underneath the seat searching for any possible hidden location.

"looking for these?" a familiar voice said that made Her blood begin to run ice cold within her veins. Hesitantly she brought herself back up and face to face with Hogans ugly mug grinning back at her from the other side of the glass as he dangled the keys in question.

"don't you move," said a Russian accent coming from directly behind her shoulder as he pressed his gun against her neck.

She was trapped.

…...

Auggie sat alone waiting for any clue that might alert him as to her whereabouts. _This is the dumbest plan in existence_ he thought, but it was all he could come up with since he was all but useless looking for... _anything really. _Only serving asa hindrance to Molly in quick recovery operation like this.

He was alerted to someone else's presence when heavy footfalls started approaching in his direction. _Thats not Molly_ he thought, quietly sinking further down into his hiding place. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard an intentional booming voice echo over the quiet forest.

_"Hey Auggie..."_

_"Oh Auggie... We know your out there somewhere," _

_"Why don't you come on back to the car. We already have your seeing eye dog anyway."_ laughter chimed in from at least 3 separate locations near his hiding spot as they continued to tease him.

_Shit._ He weighed every possible option he could think of in a moment like this as he continued to hold his ground. None of the options held particularly pleasant out comes.

_"Just want to let you know we got your little informant right here, infact, say something honey,"_ to that Molly gave a few grunts and groans from beneath the duct tape. Her wriggling, panicking body fighting Hogan with every last breath as he carried her against her will through the woods. This was exactly his idea of fun. _"So Mr. August here's what going to happen; if you don't come out in the next 15 seconds, I'm going to shoot her, and I'll continue to shoot her for every 15 seconds that follows. If you try anything stupid I will not hesitate to shoot her in the head regardless of daddy's orders,"_

Auggie closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his face in defeat- which turned to terror as Hogan began counting backwards from 15. He didn't think for one moment as someone who was bluffing, just the confidence and tone to his voice told him how experienced he was at deadly coercion.

_5..._

_4..._

_3..._

_2..._

"STOP!" Auggie yelled as he stood and walked towards the voice with his hands in the air in surrender "JUST STOP IT."

"Well well, you are about the most sorry excuse for a CIA agent I've ever seen. Look at you hiding away while the gal that came to you for help does all the dirty work because you can't. It'd be funny if it wasn't so pitiful"

Footsteps seemed to be circling all around him as they closed in on him. Suddenly someone kicked the backs of his legs sending him reactively kneeling to the ground, standing over him, they bound his hands again behind his back- this was something he pretty much expected, what he didn't expect, however, was the feeling of a distinctly sharp jab plunging directly into one of the main arteries of his upper arm.

The world slipped away from him once again.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ok so this chapter didn't really move much a long but it was a necessary evil for the set up of the rest of the story. <strong>_

_**The chapters title is based on the song 'Out Of The Wilderness' by the Cold War Kids. A song that manages to sum up Auggie's character in under 5 minutes. Seriously, go listen to it!**_


	7. Thomas

_***Authors note***_

_**This was my favorite chapter to write so far. It just really advances the plot along for the last quarter of the story. It does pain me that Auggie is spending so much time away from Annie, but I was really striving for a roll-reversal for the pair of them. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. **_

_**Just to put the time frame in perspective, this chapter takes place about 15 hours after Auggie were recaptured (which was about 37 hours since they'd gone missing) so the timeframe of this chapter is 52 hours in.**_

_**Also, when I outlined this I hadn't caught up with the second half of season 2 and was working with 2x1-10 template. So Jai is still working with the DPD throughout the story.**_

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 7<span>

"_Annie... Annie wake up," _the un welcomed voice seemed to be standing over top of her bed.

"not now. Wake me in the morning. 'Kay?"

"Annie...," this time there was a hand shaking her lightly "It's 12 in the afternoon and you are asleep at your desk. You worked all night remember?"

Her eyes shot open at that revealing a tall dark-complected man sitting at the edge of her desk regarding her casually with a smirk on his face. Jai. Rubbing her face and the indentation her papers left on it- she asked how long she'd been out.

"You passed out sometime between 4:00-4:30 Joan was going to offer you a cot but you were gone already by the time we found you."

Remembering back the night before how she, along with a few others in the DPD agreed to work around the clock trying to find their missing Head Of Tech OPs and his young asset. These last 48+ hours had been hard for the entire department since unlike Jai, there were few who disliked Auggie, but it was really taking the emotional toll on his inner circle: she, herself; his team; Joan; and for some inexplicable reason: Jai, insisted on hanging around- though his motives unclear. Arthur came down every couple of hours just to touch base on how they were going but upon hearing nothing positive he would retreat back to the safety of the 7th floor.

Pulling a posted note out of her hair he informed her of a meeting with Joan in the conference room in ten minutes, leaving her to collect herself.

…...

"Vasily Nikov," Joan clicked on the power-print, bringing up a mugshot of the man in question, she was in a rush and didn't even bother to wait for the last few people (Annie included) to enter the room before continuing, "he is a former soldier for the Russian Ground Forces, discharged for diverting guns and ammunition out of Eastern Europe in exchange for drugs and foreign money in 2002. Since then he was rumored to be working as a hired hitman for the Russian mob- but nothing concrete. That brings us to why he's up here today: yesterday two suspects who were caught on camera before the bombing at the pub told us about a man who contacted them fitting this man's description, we asked if they could describe him and our sketch artist gave us a picture that we then ran through facial recognition software and the match came in this morning. Barber? I want you and the rest of the team to scan it and see if we can get a match on it in our surveillance database-"

"-if he was caught on camera In the last 24 hours it shouldn't be a problem, but anything earlier than that becomes encrypted by date not by location, and it just gets messier from there." Barber said as he tried to quell the twitching induced by the one-too many energy drinks he was currently running on.

"well get on with it then," said Joan, eyes issuing him and the rest of the tech department out the door to get to work, "the rest of you, I want anything you can find on him. Any leads or paper trails that might suggest where he is right now. He is our only link to Thomas Harker and I want no stone left unturned. Dismissed."

As they all poured out of the conference room, Joan walked over to her office but not before venturing a look in the direction of the glass office that usually housed her favorite tech OP. All of his trinkets sat exactly how he had left them on his desk, with the exception of his chair which sat out-obviously moved by Barber or one of the others. Changing her direction, she entered the small office and respectfully moved the chair back to exactly where he had liked it.

* * *

><p><em>The Florida Everglades, 5 hours later...<em>

Sounds slowly started swimming back up to the surface once again, his dulled senses slowly taking stock of his surroundings; the air felt noticeably different- more heavy and humid then their last location, the smell was musty and industrial. He couldn't discern if the echo he was hearing came from the building he was being held in, or a side effect of whatever drug they gave him, though, given that he was sitting upright, probably tied to a chair, it was most likely the former.

Footsteps slowly made their way towards him, the echos bouncing off the walls- _definitely a warehouse_ he thought.

"Welcome back to the land of the living August," said a new and unfamiliar voice as the person leaned over his shoulder to free the restraints around his wrists, but left the ones around his ankles tied however, "please allow me to properly introduce myself: I'm Thomas Harker, welcome to sunny South Florida," he said as he grabbed Auggie's hand in a gesture of a gentleman's handshake.

Auggie immediately snapped it away, "Where is Molly?"

"my daughter is sitting right next to you. We gave you both heavy sedatives this time so you wouldn't make the mistake of trying to run off again as you did last night,"

Despite being tied to a chair, Thomas treated Auggie with the utmost respect of a houseguest. The man was a soft-spoken, calm, relatively short man in his mid 40's, who upon first glance looked more like a business yuppy, rather than cyber terrorist. His profession paid him well and he dressed as much: designer suit, shoes, tie, and watch, and was also impeccably groomed to match. This was a bizarre contrast giving the fact that he was standing in an abandoned factory in the middle of the Everglades.

He looked over to his daughter who was just beginning to stir, slowly waking.

"I must say August...,"

with that Molly's senses started kicking in, picking up fragmented pieces of the ongoing conversation happening around her.

"...I did some homework on you after Hogan contacted me to to tell me that Molly was bringing an unintended guest with her. You are really quite impressive, August Anderson of Glencoe Illinois. Graduated with top honors from MIT, aced your SERE training at Fort Bragg, and quickly went to the top of your class at The Farm. You became a CIA field operative at age 22 and even a Captain with Special Ops in Iraq. Knowing all this there was just no way I could have my people shoot you in the head."

"Thanks. I'm so honored," Auggie added sarcastically.

"Dad?"

Switching his attention to his daughter as he spoke: "hey honey, sleep well? I was just having a chat with your friend here," he reached over to pull down her blindfold, but not her hands as he did with Auggie. He knew his daughter too well.

As soon as the blindfold lifted she slowly opened her eyes and willed the blurry objects around her to focus. Everything around her was bright and throbbing, but she was able to make out a small figure with 3 larger figures standing directly behind him. Seeing her father smiling smugly as the images around her began to sharpen, she turned to her left where she found a groggy but unharmed Auggie at her side.

Thomas continued "...we've been discussing just how impressive and valuable Mr. Anderson is. He probably didn't tell you he was ex-super soldier, world-class spy, and technical genius did he?"

Molly snapped her head from her father to Auggie in shock. She knew he was skilled-obviously, but had no idea to what extent. Her mind instantly flashed back to the conversation in the trunk:

"_Just when I contacted the CIA...for help I kinda expected..."_

"_Not a blind guy named Auggie?"_

"_bingo."_

She stopped to consider how awful that must have sounded to him. Watching his reaction as her father continued to triumphantly regard him and all his accomplishments she noted that his head was down, emotions schooled with exception of his eyes darting around the room as if searching for something on the floor. This was obviously bothering him more than he was letting on.

Noting the presence of only three guards, "Where are Miguel and Dash?" she asked attempting to steer the conversation away from Auggie.

"Oh, they were holding us back last night and since they failed miserably at their jobs to anyway," Hogan said looking to both she and Auggie for her benefit, "we decided it was in their best interest if they'd stay behind,"

Jenning's the youngest of the three made a mocking gun gesture towards his left temple, effectively leaving nothing to imagination.

"so what are you going to do with us?" she snapped.

"now _THAT_ is just between me and Auggie," he gestured towards Nikov and he walked up to her with a syringe in hand.

Auggie caught the sounds of panic at his right shoulder as she fought with every fiber of her being against whatever he was doing to her. He called to her and let out a vehement "don't." in the direction of the man that gave the order.

It was too late as the struggle died to standstill all too quickly beside him.

"Relax. Its just a light sedative, she'll be fine." he turned to the guards gesturing them out, Nikov stopping to untie the sleeping girl, carrying her out along with them. Thomas picked up the now unoccupied chair and sat it facing the young blind man who still had his head tilted down with his features schooled, hiding any emotions that might give him away. "you still got it don't you?" he added with a slight laugh.

"Got what?" he asked through clenched teeth not bothering to lift his head.

"that SERE training that made you such a talented operative"

"what do you think," he spat out as confirmation to his question.

Thomas just smiled and nodded.

"What is this?"

the sighted man scooted closer and leaned in towards him, "_'this_' is me telling you what is going to happen later tonight without that little bitch screaming in my ear," his voice was lethal "truth is that intel was useless- too old, and the programs I used to obtain it were just copies, but my main reason I wanted my 'insurance plan' back was because of one single blueprint. Your a tech man, I'm sure you can appreciate the importance of 'project Golden Eagle'"

Auggie winced at that.

"Ahhh so you have heard of it. An unmanned, rocket-launched, hypersonic assault aircraft that can exit the earths atmosphere, tends to get the geeks talkin.

"That's why DARPA abandoned it," said Auggie connecting the dotts, "the project was compromised, 'you' compromised it."

"one man's loss is another's gain, and North Korea doesn't seem to be having any trouble taking someone else's leftover dinner scraps."

"And you have no problem with that. Just handing it over. You know what they will do with that technology."

"Hey! what do I care? I'll be so rich by then I can set up shop as far away from all their enemies as physically possible."

"So why do you need Molly and I then?"

"well see... thats the thing. Waiting two years for the blueprints I promised them has left them doubting my abilities as a valuable asset to them, so when I contacted them last night to tell them the good news, I threw in an extra little incentive for being so patient," he leaned into Auggie's ear, "you and Molly."

Auggie could only nod. Everything finally clicked into horrific place: "they want live American hostages in exchange for someone who can build it."

"An American hostage _and_ a CIA agent," he corrected. "you'll be leaving on a hijacked South Korean freighter from the port of Miami tonight."

* * *

><p>Annie knocked on Joan's office door.<p>

Upon hearing the other woman's confirmation, she asked "you wanted to see me?"

"yes. Go home and get some sleep."

Upon seeing Annie's look of protest and disbelief she added "I've called in an additional group to take over the case while you and the rest of Auggie's team, who've been working non-stop for the past 57 hours can get some real sleep. I can't have my best people running on fumes while we try to rescue one of our own."

Annie watched Joan as she appeared to resume whatever work she was attending to at her desk. The very embodiment of stoicism. She was about to make her exit when she paused for a moment "do you think he's ok?" she asked her boss turning back around.

The older woman let out a small humorous huff under her breath as she opened her desk drawer, "come here,"

Annie walked over reluctantly as ordered by her boss and peered forward towards whatever Joan was holding. "ohh my..." whatever she was expecting it hadn't been that, "is that?..."

"it was taken a day before his 24th birthday. He had just gotten back from hostage crisis in Colombia. The situation had turned sour quickly and all lines of communication went dead. He had barely two years under his belt at the agency when he had _begged_ me to take that mission, despite being totally unprepared for any contingency, he convinced me that he _'had it in the bag'_- so I let him go. He was MIA for two weeks in the Colombian rain forest during the still-ongoing volatile civil war. We were about to send word to his family, when we got an incoming transmission from a Peruvian truckers CB with the first 4 words coming out of his mouth being, I kid you not:

"_did you miss me?"_

Annie looked closely at the photo: he was scraped and dirty, but cleaner-cut and she thought, wildly less humbled, by the looks of the 'know it all' smile he had plastered across his face with his arm jokingly wrapped around Joan in the middle of the DPD, as she held a sack of cocoa beans that he brought back as a "souvenir" from his trip to hell.

The look on Joan's face in the photo was priceless: the look of a mother who lost all patience with her child and just decided 'screw it' and posed for a picture.

Annie laughed as she took in the look on his face, carefree: as if nothing had happened to him, while trying to fight back simultaneous tears that were trying to choke her.

She held onto it a few seconds longer, letting it sink in, before passing it back. Looking in Joan's direction, she nodded to her boss in understanding before she left the office for the night.

Joan didn't have to say a single word to reassure Annie, the picture spoke for itself.

* * *

><p><em><strong>FYI:<strong>_

_**SERE stands for Survival Evasion Resistance Escape training. If you were wondering what he was talking about during the actual polygraph in No Quarter.**_

_**DARPA stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The technology is based on the Falcon HTV-2 I just thought it would be a good idea to change it to something less official. DARPA scares me.**_

_**...**_

**_*Additional Authors Note* What was everyones thoughts on the finale?_**

**_While it didn't make much headway Annie/Auggie wise, which was disappointing, I still thought it was a big improvement to season 1's finale. Auggie broke my heart in all his scenes; I wanted to throw a shoe at the television during Jai's; And I've now developed a new appreciation for 'Shake It Off' which drove me crazy throughout the episode trying to place it lol. _**


	8. Bodies And Bullets

_***Authors note***_

_**I split this and the next chapter up for fluidity because it bounced back and forth too much for a single chapter, I thought . For that reason this chapter is a little shorter. I might end up doing that with chapter 9 as well, so it turns out it might be a little longer-maybe like 12-13 chapters instead of an even 10. But alas we are getting down the homestretch now. **_

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

"Is that really necessary?" Auggie asked as Nikov tightened the blindfold around his head.

"actually it is," Thomas interjected as he watched his crew prepare the hostages, "we want you both in tip top shape when we make the exchange. The Koreans know they are getting a CIA operative, they don't need to know that they are actually getting a washed up has been."

Molly stood silently next to her blind charge as she received the same treatment. She was still a little groggy from the sedative and had just awoken slowly in the trunk next to Auggie as they arrived at the port. He had no time to fill her in on the predicament they were caught in. Auggie had been awake and alert for the duration of the forty five minute-or so trip, finding it hard to rest after his conversation he had with Thomas earlier that evening.

The six of them were now standing on a deserted dock at the west end of the large port waiting for their freighter to arrive. The location was the older more abandoned portion of the large port, where the state-of-the-art freighters had all vacated leaving only rusting barely functional cargo ships to die or sink, whichever came first. So as not to raise eyebrows, Thomas had hacked into the docking schedule, confirming that there was indeed a South Korean freighter scheduled to dock at this hour.

Minutes had passed when Auggie caught the sound of a small inboard motor off in the distance. Immediately noticing the blind man's sudden change in body language, Thomas began listening intently and found the source himself, not wanting to incur the attention of a Coast Guard or a Port Security boat-using a pair of binoculars he determined it was neither. Just a small fisherman's vessel with a single occupant heading in their direction.

"What the hell is this?" Thomas said amusingly as the tiny boat with a brown canopy and single headlight approached the dock,

"I guess I should go tell the Gordon's fisherman here, to take his dingy elsewhere," Hogan said, taking it upon himself to approach the vessel and the unsuspecting older gentlemen steering it. With his ever-so-polite Southern draw he addressed the man; "Well excuse me Sir...-"

His sentence was cut short with a single bullet directly to his head.

Thomas began to back up in a motion of cowardice as his remaining two guards barely had the chance to retaliate before the boat's small canopy lifted up, revealing 5 heavily armed men hiding underneath it.

All hell broke loose.

Molly quickly moved closer to Auggie in panic, neither one of them able to see the situation. At the feel of her pressing at his side, he instructed her to "get down on the ground," an order which she quickly followed. Auggie crouched as he waited, upon feeling a bullet bite the air directly above him he threw himself flat on top of her disregarding his own safety for hers.

They both could do nothing but lay there, motionless, as bodies and bullets flew to the ground all around them.

When the gunfire finally ceased, Auggie rolled himself off her back, laying directly next to her. Neither one of them had been hit.

They could only wait.

"Is this rescue?" Molly asked, panic and worry lacing her voice,

A single shot rang through the silence, making them both jump with a start, the sound of a sole body further away hitting the ground with a heavy thump followed.

Footsteps began walking in their direction until they passed them both.

Course voices barked orders in Korean as the sound of a single whimpering voice pleaded with them just north of where they took cover.

"Where is the blueprint?" one spoke in broken english.

"Right here," Thomas said as one of the five men held him pinned to the van, "there are your hostages I promised you," he said gesturing over to the still forms on the ground, "Why are you doing this?"

BANG!

Molly began to cry as the blood from the body that fell just north of them began spreading to where they were laying.

"_This_, this is not rescue," Auggie answered her previous question quietly.

* * *

><p><span>Two hours later <span>(62 hours in)

Annie managed to enter the guesthouse without incident, no sisterly encounters, nor attacking nieces to divert her direction straight to the bed she was about to collapse on. Not even bothering to change her clothes her head hit the pillow and sleep met her eyes instantaneously.

The phone rang.

Closing her eyes against the sound she willed it to stop ringing. When it didn't stop she growled and answered it, "Annie Walker, acquisitions, WHAT?"

"_Annie its Jai, you need to get back here ASAP! Head straight for the hangar, the jet is leaving for Miami upon everyone's arrival,"_

"What happened?" she demanded, her thoughts instantly went to Auggie.

"_we will fill everyone in on the plane ride down. Just get here quickly."_

Glad she never changed out of her work clothes, she grabbed her bag and essential quick travel suitcase, and headed for the door in a flash.

…...

Joan and her team of sixteen arrived to the crime scene in an unmarked black bus. It was a handpicked team of their own DPD agents, forensic experts, and tech crew. Annie along with the rest had been filled in during the plane ride down. They had been told there'd been a shooting and one of the victims matched the description of Nikov, and possibly Thomas.

The scene was already alight with a FBI agents, and a few remaining determined Miami homicide detectives and forensic experts that were holding their own ground against the Federal takeover. Agent Wasabi was on scene arguing with a particularly fiery forensic expert that was refusing to hand over the evidence she had collected, when Joan walked by him with purpose, crew (Annie included) following close behind. She walked directly into the middle of the ongoing battle where she commanded everyone's attention; "Attention everyone! This is my investigation now and my people will be handling it from here. If all evidence is not handed over to us immediately," she shot a knowing look to the familiar FBI agent, "my people will search you for it. Save your dignity and make this easy,"

Annie marveled at how quickly the scene before her cleared out once Joan took over. That woman had the ability to motivate an entire army with just the lift of her eyebrow. She'd have to learn that skill.

Just then Agent Wasabi walked passed her on his way out, and uttered a _"perfect,_" under his breath. Annie tried out her own intimidating brow lift at his words and he left without a another word.

The team quickly got to work combing over everything in sight.

Having easily identified both bodies as Thomas Harker and Vasily Nikov quickly, the three others hastily followed: Mason Jennings a former bounty hunter with some priors in Louisiana; Ralph Hogan, a true catch for the FBI who had been been diligently searching for him but never would have thought to link he and Thomas as working together; and an older gentleman wearing a fisherman's coverall named Dwight fieldman, who still had his drivers license on him, lived in the area, and had no criminal history. It didn't take a rocket scientist to pick the victim in this scenario.

Auggie and Molly were once again nowhere to be found.

Barber walked briskly towards Joan holding the port manifest, asking her to come and look at the surveillance video he had just confiscated from security. She called over to Annie and Jai to join them.

They headed towards the back of their bus where all monitoring equipment was housed, Barber popped the video in, "it says on the manifest that there was a scheduled South Korean freighter to dock at here at 4am, but if you look at this," Barber played back the footage showing the incident earlier playout before their very eyes. "you'll see it didn't exactly go down that way,"

There was no zoom on the footage but Joan's and Annie's attention immediately went to the two blindfolded figures in the upper right corner of the video, the taller of the two had dove on top of the other in an act of protection as the bullets flew. They laid there completely still, as Thomas took a bullet to the temple towards the upper middle of the screen. As his body fell the five men switched their attention to the two laying helplessly on the ground. Grabbing them, the heavily armed men forced them both onto the tiny hijacked boat. "Auggie." both Annie and Joan muttered at the same time under their breath. Quickly getting up, Joan exited the van to collect and relocate her people. Nothing more could be done from this location.

In total they were there for under two hours and then left as quickly as they arrived, handing the now-empty crime scene back over to the two bickering parties that were there when they arrived.


	9. Caged Lions

_***Authors note***_

_**Ok so you'll see in this chapter exactly the reason why I broke it up. It was originally planned to go back and forth, between the DPD and co. but I decided it was better to just focus on Auggie's side of things because this is the last big character building piece before chaos ensues.**_

_**Also, for those of you who are reading this from outside the States, please know that this chapter has some fairly specific spoilers from season 2 episode 7, so I'd be careful to avoid it if it hasn't aired in your area yet. **_

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

9:14am (65+ hours in)

Molly was leaning against Auggie in a dimly lit interior of a cargo container- now turned prison cell. Their new captors had so graciously removed the blindfolds and restraints first, before tossing them into the windowless steel cubicle.

This whole thing had been a carefully orchestrated coup that had been planned long before Thomas had made the call. While they didn't know until the last minute that they would be getting two hostages before the plan had gone live, their plan all along was to cut ties with Thomas the moment they had his blueprint in their possession.

After the shooting at the dock, they were both forced onto the small boat the militants had arrived on, they traveled a couple of miles out before switching to a strategically-awaiting larger boat; judging by the feel of the large but agile engine below them, and the crisp new fiberglass smell, Auggie had surmised they were being held on a private yacht or charter of some sort. They traveled on that for a long while before switching to the old musty freighter they were currently stowed on.

It was a clever way of covering their tracks and Auggie made a mental note that if he made it out of this, he would pass the message to Joan to never underestimate North Korean intelligence outside of the DMZ again.

The latch lifted suddenly to the container and an armed guard threw in two buckets followed by a food tray with with a roll of stale bread and two filled water bottles.

"Charming," Molly said aloud. She walked over and brought the tray back to where she had been sitting next to Auggie, "can we eat this?" she asked. She was starving and in no mood to be picky. Neither had eaten in the last- almost three days since capture.

"what is it?" was Auggie's reply as he wrinkled his features.

"water and a roll of bread that is well on its way to becoming a giant cracker,"

Auggie felt around until Molly caught the hint and placed his hand on the tray where he carefully ran his hands over all three items. Picking up the water bottles first, he smelled each for any trace of detectable chemicals, finding none, he then tore off a small piece of the flakey 'bread' and tasted it for the same, "go ahead, take a few small bites of it at first and then wait awhile just to be sure there isn't a reaction. Its probably all clean since they want us alive and healthy anyway."

"you know whats happening don't you?" judging by the angry Korean's that shoved them in, Molly already had a pretty good idea, but she was praying to God she was wrong.

He looked in the direction of her voice and nodded hesitantly, "promise not to panic?"

Molly nodded her response back, upon realizing her faux pas, she verbalized her answer.

He continued; "I had a nice little chat with your father yesterday after they drugged you and carried you out. He told me that one of the blueprints you stole was still a very valuable design to the RDEI and, being the loving 'father of the year' he is, he thought he'd sweeten the deal by throwing in two hostages that they could later exchange for someone to build them the damn thing."

The piece of bread Molly had been holding in her hand dropped to the ground. She was speechless as every word in her vocabulary could not match the hurt she felt for being traded in like an arcade token at the worlds scariest carnival, by her own father.

"Molly?" he heard her stand up suddenly and begin to move about the tiny room.

"I hope that this is his blood I'm covered in then," she furiously regarded the filthy gray shirt she had on that was now covered in dried blood from last nights shoot out. She continued her pacing back and forth in the confines of the small room, feeling like a caged lion that had been poked one too many times at the circus.

His eyes followed her movement unerringly "could you please stop that. It'll do nothing but waste your own energy, and drive me crazy!"

She stopped at his request. It was undeniable to her that his voice of reason had a surprisingly calming effect under the circumstance.

"We could still get out of this right? She asked as she reluctantly came back to sit beside him, "I mean those two journalists awhile back got out in one piece after Clinton made a visit. They let them go."

"I didn't paint you as one to follow the news," he said with a surprised laugh, eyebrows lifted in shock.

"and I didn't _'paint you'_ as Rambo meets James Bond, so I guess we both were a little off on our assumptions." she countered confidently. When he didn't respond she watched him closely as his joking smile slipped away and his eyes went distant, "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"-its ok," he cut in reassuringly, picking up on her unease, "it was just a lot of skeletons being thrown out of my closet all at once yesterday. Normally that's a part of my life I kinda have to purposely forget in order to function how I am now."

She scooted closer and laid her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in his candidness, "so it was all true?" she pressed tentatively,

"all true." he answered. Feeling the weight on his shoulder, he adjusted a bit to let her get more comfortable. They'd be in this container for God knows how long, might as well get comfortable, and get to know each other a little better in the meantime.

"Is it ok if I asked what happened?" she asked looking up at him. When she felt his body stiffen at the question, she was about to retract it when he started talking;

"-I was stationed in Tikrit with Special Ops," he picked up a piece of bread and started rolling it around in his fingers while he spoke, "we had a lead on a possible terrorist operating in the area, so my team went out to check it. There were 5 of us: four soldiers and a local guide/translator. Little did any of us know at the time that our 'local guide' and was actually the guy we were looking for all along," he paused when he heard her gasp, and then closed his eyes and pressed on through the ugly memories, "He had set up my whole team, walked us directly into his trap. By the time I realized it was to late. I tried to worn them, tried to get them out of there in time but..." he looked in Molly's direction and gestured to his eyes, "the bomb went off instead."

Molly was once again left speechless. When someone tells you a story like that there is nothing that can be possibly said in adequate response. She lightly squeezed his arm both in thanks, and in understanding.

"You are one of only three people to know that story how it actually happened."

"People don't ask?"

"people do. I give them the edited, altered version."

"oh."

He laughed bitterly and added; "For the last four years I've been more or less confined to a desk job, this was my first 'official' field case since the accident... Didn't quite go as planned."

"I'm so sorry I dragged you into this."

"Don't apologize. You came to us for help, you had no way of knowing it could escalate to this. If anything, I should be apologizing to _you_ for putting you in this position. A sighted agent would have quickly followed protocol and hidden you directly after the bombing at Dead End. Instead, I dragged you down an open alleyway, playing right into the enemies hands."

"A _'sighted agent'_ wouldn't have been able to convince a heavily armed mercenary that they weren't a threat and then beat the living crap out of them with their eyes closed." she added, quite sure of her words.

This made him laugh, "probably true." he paused for a moment before asking her something that had been bothering him for some time;

"What's with the whole 'no direct facial contact' thing? You contacted the CIA, an agency with the middle name _'intelligence_'- you had to know that we were watching you like a hawk the minute you walked in the door."

"its an old habit, I guess. Something that has been indoctrinated into me since I was a kid: _'never get caught on camera; stake out surveillance locations before you enter a building; always keep your head down and backed turned if the unavoidable happens_. These were the lessons my 'loving' father taught me."

She watched his expression as he thought it through, and felt it was only fair to continue after he'd shared so much with her; "I've never really gotten to have a normal childhood, you know, or a teenage life for that matter. Hell! All my social skills were learnt from books I stole from libraries when I got the chance- and do you want to know who taught me how to read in the first place? Hogan taught me! It was his insistence to my dad, who could've cared less about the subject, that I have some semblance of an actual education. That was back when he was in charge of protecting me- not trying to kill me, of course. Remember how I said I could give you a location to my dad's whereabouts?" He nodded, "that's because my dad's two favorite hideouts were the heavy Appalachian mountain range of North Carolina, and the secluded uninhabited portions of the Florida Everglades. That's where I grew up- with my dad the fugitive cyber terrorist, and his four goons as my only family."

"and I thought mine was bad," he said offhandedly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, hugging her close. Being the youngest of five brothers, he never got to play a 'sister's big brother' type, but sitting here with this young woman who depended on him, he started to understand the feeling.

…...

A little while later her voice broke the silence that had befallen comfortably upon them; "Auggie?"

she rearranged so that she was laying flat on her back with her head resting on his lap looking up at him.

"hmmm...?"

"earlier, when we were back in the woods, you said I reminded you of someone; a 'her?"

He smiled. "Her name is Annie."

_"oooh..."_ she ventured teasingly. She had seen how quickly his face lit up at her name.

"I know your smirking at me Mrs. Harker,"

"bingo. Who is she?" she hit his arm in an effort to get him back on topic. She wasn't going to let him change it again.

"She's a co-worker and also happens to be my_ best friend._" he said purposely stressing those last two words for her benefit.

"not to embarrass the living hell out of you or anything, but the fact that your grinning like a fool just talking about her means that she's probably a little more than just a _'friend_"

"I'm telling the truth," he said laughing, "we are just really good friends, it's all we've ever been. She has her social life and I have mine. Case closed."

_Riiiight..._

"Can I give you a bit of advice?"

"alright," he said reluctantly.

"I never watched tv growing up, but one of my hideouts that I used had a tv; it only had like two channels and one of them insisted on showing reruns of that show, you know, Buffy?"

Auggie had really no idea where she was going with this but nodded for her to continue anyway.

She rearranged so that she was sitting back up next to him again before starting; "well... One day there was this episode with this badass British guy and he said something that stuck with me ever since:

"_Your not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. Love isn't brains children, its blood; blood screaming inside you to work its will."_

"You remembered all that?"

"yeah, I wrote it down."

They both cracked up at that.

Once they quieted down, she added: "listen, I have zero experience in any kind of relationships whatsoever, so the best advice I can offer you is something that I heard once on a tv show and hope you can take it to heart."

"Thank you," he said squeezing her arm gently.

She leaned into his side resting her head on his shoulder, and he rested his head on top of hers. For the first time in nearly three days they drifted off into a non-chemically induced sleep.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ok, ok, I deeply apologize for the shameless Buffy quote. I had wanted her to help him see his &amp; Annie's relationship for what it was, which is hard to do when you've been as sheltered as she had been. I ultimately decided that a young impressionable adult would take inspiration from where she found it-even if that had to be the raw-but-eloquent words of a Joss Whedon tv show. <strong>_

_**Also,**_

_**RIP Kim Jong-Il. Your crazy ass has inspired this whole plot, and will always be remembered one way or another, throughout history.**_


	10. Our Glorious Leader

_***Authors note***_

_**I apologize for the delay of this chapter. It took a LOT of research on my part and I wanted to get the facts as accurate as possible. Being the country that it is, information is limited to Wikipedia-esque facts and past headline news stories, so if I get anything blatantly wrong about the culture (I'm looking at you! Korean, Chinese, East-Russian readers, whom border the country) please feel free to correct any of my mistakes if I get something wrong.**_

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 10<span>

_August 14, 6:30am KST, (almost 10 days in)_

Molly had seen her first glimpse of sunlight in six days. It was dawn and barely shining, but it was still alarmingly bright as they were roughly led out of their cell and into the crisp early morning air that greeted their dulled senses.

In the time that had passed, Auggie had kept her going with talks on various topics, his entertaining stories- both from work and his crazy personal life, gave her some lessons in hand-to-hand fighting techniques (despite the lack of space) to keep both of them from cramping up in such a tight area, and overall kept the mood positive for her- a shoulder for her to lean on when it got quiet and hope seemed all but gone.

They were both taken onto the top deck of the freighter, and as her eyes finally adjusted to the new surroundings she glanced at Auggie who was at her side; he looked horribly pale, filthy, and scruffy with stubble, but despite all those things, he still remained sharp and alert and what Molly assumed was deep in thought.

Auggie, sensed that the guards around them were just probably KPA soldiers following strict orders to bring them in. He had only encountered one who seemed to speak very basic English, the rest spoke strictly their native language and never addressed either of them throughout the trip. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he quickly leaned into Molly's side and whispered _"Stay as close as possible. I need your eyes." _at his words he felt a barrel of a gun pressed into his chest and the person holding it gave a shrill order- of which, he could only interpret as 'no talking allowed'

They were placed real handcuffs this time and then forced onto, yet, _another small boat_. This time only two guards accompanied them while the rest stayed onboard.

Molly was thankful that this time they did not feel the need to blindfold her or her companion and took stock of the men who were escorting them: one was piloting the small vessel, while the other spoke on a two-way with his rifle still pointed seriously between she and Auggie. She glanced back to the freighter that had had held them: it was dark blue, smaller than she expected, and had large Asian lettering written across the stern- just under it she noticed, in smaller lettering was the word 'Japan' written in English. _It wasn't even a South Korean ship that was 'sposed to dock_, she thought to herself. She looked in the other direction- the one they were headed, and could see a long strip of land far off in the distance.

Auggie had been weighing his options on how to go about this next; a lot would depend on how he played the situation; should he appear cooperative and willing to engage, or should he resist them every step of the way and withhold information? Should he play up his disability, or try to hide it for as long as possible? These scenarios danced around his head as the wind sprayed saltwater onto his face when they began hitting breaking waves- alerting him to the short distance they had left to reach the shore. As the boat's outboard motor ceased and they began coasting till a distinct 'thump' was felt, Auggie had made up his mind that he would opt for the quiet approach: not speaking unless spoken to, appearing willing but not desperate; he would let _them_ dictate the situation and take advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves to exploit. He also took that approach to his blindness; trying to hide it outright would bring more attention to his situation, but he also knew it wouldn't be expected of someone in his profession so they might not pick up on it at first, and he could use it as a 'final card' to play if needed.

They were instructed by the guns pointed at their backs to climb up onto the dock and walk towards the group of people that were just arriving at the dock's base. Not bothering to look back as she climbed first, Molly quickly muttered under her breath to Auggie behind her, "climb up. Dock at your nine," she was thankful when he found the dock pretty quickly without having to grope around for it too much. She didn't know exactly what his plan was but she figured the less he gave them to work with the better.

The group of people walking towards them consisted of four additional armed guards dressed in KPA military attire, and a man and woman dressed in different, more formal, and 'official' uniforms, than the olive drab that the others wore.

Stopping at a barked from the two guards behind them, they waited for party to come to them.

"Mrs. Harker, Mr. Anderson," the older Korean woman spoke first with an accommodating smile "My name is Yi Kyu-Min, and this is my associate Sung Jae-hwa, we will be your personal interpreters and guides for your stay," The woman who looked to be in her late 50's and spoke English fluently, she had a maternal presence about her that led Molly to believe she wasn't just chosen for her impressive English speaking skills. "Our glorious leader would like to extend his regards and welcomes you both to North Korea."

Auggie felt her recoil beside him, he had made the same discovery himself listening to the older woman speak. Their new 'guides' were chosen to appear as trust worthy and accommodating as possible, but the fact that this was facade to gain trust was so comically transparent. He felt a strong hand shake his, and returned a faint smile to the man he took to be Sung Jae-hwa.

"Come. We have orders to bring you back to our capitol city, where you'll be fed and be given a room for your stay,"

Neither of them moved until they felt the guns from behind once again pushing them in the direction of their guides as they walked towards a small black SUV waiting for them.

…...

Molly stared out the window at the landscape developing before her; they had been traveling south for awhile, and she had taken in the distinct and almost beautiful- _if it weren't for North Korea_- landscape of steep mountain ranges that seemed to ripple in effect, and the inhabited valley's between each of them. As they approached Pyongyang she started seeing more and more people as they went about their daily lives.

As the landscape traded the farms and grassy valley's for buildings and industrial areas, she noticed that even in a city so densely populated as this, they appeared to be the only ones using a car- something that did not escape the attention of the locals who all seemed to drop what they were doing to look. Not only was there a lack of cars, but also a lack of any kind of signs or traffic lights to direct them. The city itself, seemed cold, desolate and uninviting even in the most thriving of areas.

She looked to Auggie who was quietly sitting across from her with his head towards his side of the window. She fought the urge to smile at this but the fact that she had no way of dictating that feeling to him was frustrating- with her hands still bound behind her and anything audible-out of the question, with their guides sitting beside them as they traveled.

"This is the Arch Of Triumph," Sung Jae-hwa said as he pointed proudly passed Auggie to show him the landmark, apparently feeling a little local sightseeing would liven the two emotionally exhausted prisoners up. Auggie, not enjoying is personal space being invaded as an arm reached across him- simply directed his gaze outwards in the direction he hoped was correct, and nodded quietly.

Molly however, had a hard time feigning her reaction as Yi Kyu-Min went on to tell her proudly about the city's other Arch: _The Arch Of Reunification_, that was built in the hopes of one day reunifying the Korean peoples, and the fact that the dome at the top actively housed explosives, should an invasion come- it would serve as a giant road block. She looked at Auggie who was fighting back a small smile of his own as he, most likely, was imagining the hilarious expression on her face as the woman so non-chalantly added that last part.

After traveling further Southeast, and across a long bridge, then down a long wooded one-lane drive, they finally arrived at the not-so-desired location. It was a large solid gray building with no windows and barbed wire fencing that laced all exterior walls. Outside stood heavily armed guards and directly across from it held a tower that seemed to be peering directly and intentionally into the building.

"its nicer inside. We have food, clothing, and running water, for you there." Yi Kyu-Min assured her, Sensing Molly's reticence with the appearance of the building.

When they got out of the car she moved closer to Auggie as they were escorted into the building. While it appeared to the casual viewer that she was scared and was naturally clinging to her friend, she was actually nudging him in to lead him in the direction.

Yi Kyu-Min, for the most part, had been right; after exiting the long empty corridor Molly found an equally narrow room with a long table; on it, were two bowls of some sort of soup and two big balls of rice.

"We know you must be starving," Sung Jae-hwa said from behind Auggie as he removed the handcuffs from he and Molly "please, relax, eat."

Once her hands were freed, Molly grabbed his hand in what looked to the naked eye as a measure of excitement and tugged him to the seat where the food was still steaming. _This girl could definitely make it in the world in the world of espionage_ Auggie thought to himself.

"That soup is called 'Taedonggang sungeoguk' meaning 'trout soup,'" Yi Kyu-Min said as she sat next to Molly. "its a delicacy in our country and it is only served to people of large importance."

Having subsisted on nothing but rolls of stale bread and water for the last 6 days neither objected to the choice of meal. They ate every last bit of it.

After The meal, the handcuffs were firmly reinstated as they were led to the 'living quarters'.

Auggie followed the touch of Molly's shoulder again until a large hand forcibly separated the two. "Mr. Anderson your room is here. There is a set of clothing on the bed which you'll be able to change into after you've had your shower and cleaned up first."

"-Wait!" Molly exclaimed in a panicked voice, "we aren't being held in the same room? We've been together in a crate for the last six days, and before that, a trunk! I don't mind. Please!"

"your room is a down this way Mrs. Harker," Yi Kyu-Min said as she grabbed at Molly's shoulders, turning her away from the boy she had been glued to since she arrived. "come."

Auggie winced as he listened to the young woman pleading to stay so desperately and not be separated. He had a feeling it would happen sooner or later, considering the countries penchant for segregating by gender. Thankfully, Jae-hwa's hand unknowingly guided him into the room just as Yi Kyu-Min had done as comfort for Molly.

"As I said before Mr. Anderson, the clothing is on the bed, but I'd expect you want to shower first and clean yourself up first," Sung Jae-hwa pointed towards Auggie's filthy facial stubble- a gesture that was unknowingly lost to the young CIA agent.

"and the toilet?" he asked hoping his guide would confirm the location of both in the room.

"right behind you next to the shower." Sung Jae-hwa said in an almost comical voice as he stated the obvious. The room was a narrow box shape with the bed at the back wall, the bathroom directly behind it at the left-with no door.

"thanks."

"oh, and Mr. Anderson, I know because of your profession, you might try something foolish. Don't. This room has more video monitors in it than it does space- there is no hiding that can be done here. Goodnight." with that he quickly turned and exited the room.

_Perfect. Like a goldfish in a glass bowl_, he thought. While he had known the room would have the usual North Korean charms; like audio bugs under the beds and tables, and an offset dresser mirror that functioned as a one-way window, he kind of overlooked the fact that he would be on display while navigating blind, but still trying to appear as sighted as possible. With a sigh he turned towards the direction his back had been facing when Jae-hwa gave him the location and walked slowly until his shins met a toilet or shower stall or even bathroom door, indicating the bathroom. He found a sink at hip level instead. From there, _praying to god_ that his guards weren't voyeuristic enough to be watching him, he felt around until he found the toilet and next to it, thankfully- the shower.

…...

After a long and useless struggle on Molly's part, she found herself in her 'stay room' accompanied by the still hospitable Yi Kyu-Min.

She looked around at the room; a small box shape with the bathroom at the left of the bed at the back wall. The bed itself was sunken and the mattress under it was dirty- _but at least it was a bed_ she thought.

"your clothes are here," Yi Kyu-Min said holding up a faded beige t-shirt and sweatpants and a pair of slip on shoes. The bathroom behind you has a shower and there is soap. I think you will be wanting to use that first?"

Molly nodded. She looked to the side wall and found a full length mirror (doubly functioning as a one-way mirror) and caught a glimpse of herself; She was filthy, exhausted and pale looking; her gray top still knotted in dry blood and her jeans were now barely staying up on her hips- she'd lost at least 6 pounds or more since she last looked at her reflection.

"Yi Kyu-min, can I just call you Kyu-min?- what's going to happen to us?" she asked not bothering to look away from her emaciated reflection.

"Sure. But I'm afraid I have no answers for you. I do as I am told when it is asked of me." the older woman answered plainly but honestly. Yi Kyu-min knew of the mirrors and monitors herself, but thought it was best to not scare the child that seemed no older than her own. "please, clean, and get some rest for you."

The older woman's words were laced with duty and respect for her country, but behind them, they seemed to be tinged with genuine concern over her captive. Molly nodded again and the old woman left the room at her nod of reassurance.

After a long cold shower, Molly climbed into the baggy clothes provided and collapsed on top of the sunken mattress below her and fell fast asleep.

* * *

><p><em>August 15, 7:30am KST,<em>

Sung Jae-hwa was not quite as cavalier as he was the night before when he woke Auggie in the morning.

"yes?" Auggie asked as he squinted and tiredly reacquainted himself with his new surroundings.

"get up," there was a pause as the man regarded his prisoner, noticing he had not shaven. "I thought I told you to clean yourself up last night?"

"I did,"

"you did not shave with the razor we so generously provided you."

"I didn't know I had to," Auggie answered innocently but apparently came off as defiantly as a quick sharp blow was felt on his left ankle and a wave of pain traveled upwards letting the rest of his body catch up. He toppled over from his upright position and grabbed at it trying to rub the pain away. Unable to comprehend what just happened he managed to get out; "what?..."

"you will be shown on camera later today and our glorious leader wants you to look as presentable and healthy as possible for your bosses. Now go shave!"

"I...I didn't see it..where?" he asked through gritted teeth as his entire leg was throbbing now from whatever it had been hit with.

"on the ledge above the soap," his speech was slow and intentional, as if he were talking to someone of lesser intelligence. "If you are not done when I return, I will bring a man back that is far more persuasive than I, and he will make you."

Auggie still lay on his side holding his ankle as he heard the door shut. _Alone again_ he thought. He made the effort to sit back up and began the motion of standing, but collapsed on the ground as soon as he put weight on the affected ankle- far more injured than he originally thought. Trying again, this time using the bed and putting all the wait onto his right leg he hobbled into the bathroom where he found the damned razor and slowly began the process of shaving by touch.

…...

"When can I see Auggie again?" Molly asked her guide as she ate the rice ball provided for breakfast.

"You will be with him later today when you go on camera."

"what?"

"Our glorious leader needs you to address the camera for good faith as we make our demands to your government."

With that all of Yi Kyu-min's earlier hospitality dropped. She said the words so sweetly and as easily as someone who was talking about what cookies they were planning to bake. This brought Molly back to the harsh reality that she and Auggie were still hostages being held for ransom in a country that has more 'crazy' than it does, food for its people.

…..

The door once again swung open to Auggie's room, alerting him to another visitor. This time there were two sets of footfalls entering the room. One of the height and weight that fitted Jae-hwa's and the other...noticeably larger. They stood at the front of the room regarding him silently.

Auggie had been sitting on the bed tending to his left ankle which he was wrapping with a piece of the worn bed blanket he'd been given. He discovered that his ankle was far more swollen after the shower than it had been before it- so he thought it best to wrap it before things got...worse.

The silence continued.

Auggie realized what this little 'waiting game' was. He'd been found out. Now they were apparently having a little fun at his expense. "Why are you doing that?" he asked, figuring that was as general a question to whatever the hell they were currently doing.

There was a audible snort, and one set walked towards him- the lighter familiar set. Sung Jae-hwa bent over his prisoner's face slowly and spoke in a teasing, yet dead-serious voice; "You have been lying to us Mr. Anderson."

Auggie said nothing staring blankly as the other continued to speak;

"I thought it was odd at first how a young girl would not prefer her own room, then I found it strange when you asked where the toilet was when it was visible the moment you entered, then I found it stranger when you did not shave because you didn't _'see it', _and finally, when I so clearly prepared to hit you on the ankle with this baton earlier you made no reaction to avoid it before it came crashing down on your ankle." he tapped the offending stick lightly above where he had hit it earlier and continued; Then, I watched you on camera as you groped around looking for the razor like a blind man trying to locate it, it confirmed my theory that that is what you are; a blind man. Which brings me back to my original statement; you _lied to us. _You are not the agent my country was promised_. _My associate here is going to make certain that you don't make the mistake of _lying_ to us again."

Sung Jae-hwa stood up and walked away as a set of heavier footsteps approached towards him, Auggie braced himself for what happened next and was not the least bit surprised by the set of large hands that held him by his t-shirt. The sound of the door slamming in the backround meant that he and this new man were now alone in the small room, he had a pretty good idea about what comes next...

...

Over in Molly's room, she lay awake on her back trying to keep her mind entertained; she replayed various movies and tv scenes, books she read, and stories she heard from Auggie to keep her mind off her current situation when a scream cut through her memories, bringing her back to the present. She got up and pressed her head up against the wall to listen, but realized that was not necessary as a large thud pounded the wall in front of her.

More loud noises and screaming.

She'd spent enough time with the man to realize the person screaming was Auggie.

It hadn't been obvious before, but the rooms formed an 'H' pattern, being entered from opposite hallways, with the back walls of each room directly up against each other.

She covered her hands over her ears as she realized there was nothing she could do to stop what was happening to him.

* * *

><p><strong><em>I had a bit of a wrestle with how to use the two guide's names, you'll probably notice this. I know the last or 'family' name comes first, but do they ever just drop it for just their chosen birth name for short? I didn't want to insult the Korean people or the characters themselves by addressing their names incorrectly so I just used the full name for most of this chapter. I can always go back and change it to just their first names later. <em>**

**_I got this out late as a belated Christmas present to all the people who've been favoriting and adding this story to their alerts. Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this!_**


	11. When Saint Bernard's Need Rescue

_***Author's note***_

_**You know how you come across a chapter that you really don't feel like writing but its essential for the story? This is one of them. **__**It's part one of two. **_

_**Also, thanks for the new reviews I received. They mean so much. And yes, Muttsandmoggies, I'm a Lost fan and some of Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse's story telling techniques rubbed off on me. **_

Chapter 11

August 13, 7:00pm EST (August 14th 9:00am KST)

Annie sat watching her curser move as she absently pushed it around her desk computer not really working. It had been almost 10 days since she last saw her best friend live and in person.

By now the DPD reluctantly had to move on and put his op on the back burner while other pressing matters took center stage. It pained everyone to do so but they had no choice. After returning from Miami, they hit wall after brick wall of dead ends in the investigation- the orchestrators were covering their tracks astonishingly well, sending Clandestine services through a loop like this.

In the days that had followed, Annie and the rest of the DPD attended the funeral service of the five agents they had lost during the bombing, pulled double duty with both current affairs and Auggie's case, and even went on a successful non-incident filled mission to Uruguay- though, instead of the calming voice of her trusted 'Saint Bernard' in her ear, she had Barber...eating a taco.

The DPD just wasn't the same place without him around. She wanted more than anything to see his grinning face hovering over her work station, or the telltale flash of his green laser approaching- prodding her to alert him of her presence. She thought it was funny that the object that had once so completely caught her off guard on her first day at the agency was now something that she would come to miss so much.

She looked across to his office- which was looking less and less like 'his' as the days went by. His gadgets- much to the dismay of Joan had all been pushed aside by the other workers of both his team and the additional team she'd brought in. It was no longer neat and clean as he liked it- more like a disaster area. Annie suddenly felt a wave of apprehension for his fellow tech team when he came back to find it in this state.

That was 'if' he ever came back.

* * *

><p>The Campbell residence,<p>

August 14th 3:00am EST (August 15th 5:00pm)

Arthur stood over his sleeping wife who lay gracefully on the sofa still holding the book she had intended to read. He hated to wake her since she so rarely got any time to look so peaceful as she like this. She made her job as Head of DPD look so effortless on the surface but in reality it wore her as ragged as it would anyone, and he knew it better than anyone- though she would never admit it to him.

"Joan... Joan wake up, honey," he tapped his wife's shoulder nudging her further into consciousness as she began to stir.

"hmmm..What is it?"

"We just received word from our friends in Sweden who passed on a message you're gonna want to hear."

Her eyes widened-now fully awake and alert, her mind was already connecting dots to that her husband hadn't even given her yet.

"Sweden..." she said absently, as she ran scenarios in her mind as to why they might be involved in something she 'wanted to hear'. Her head snapped towards her husband. "Is it... about Auggie?"

He regarded her for a moment silently before adding that they should just get to the DPD as quickly as possible.

Reading his momentary silence as a 'yes' she sprung up and headed to the door- not even bothering to change from the less- than- professional jeans and tee that she had been wearing.

…...

Annie ran towards Jai from across the DPD parking lot as he was opening the door. He was going to give her a smart remark about her wardrobe choices; a Georgetown sweatshirt, pajama's bottoms with ducks on them, and flip flops, when he caught a look at his own reflection in the glass door; a violet colored polo with bright red sweatpants that he had cut off into capris. _One does not throw stones in a glass house_ he thought to himself while giving Annie an appreciative smile.

"Jai do you know what this is about?" she asked as they made their way out of the elevator and into the department.

Looking at the familiar company that was already buzzing around them as they went through the doors, Jai didn't even have to answer. _Auggie. _

"Annie. Jai. In here," Joan said as she leaned over the railing and tilted her head towards the conference room where Annie noticed they were setting up video conferencing equipment.

In the room Arthur stood beside his wife along with some other faces Annie pegged as '7th floor prestige' _this is big _she thought as she watched the minions scurrying about around them to finish setting everything up.

"You should say something," Arthur said to his wife as he saw the questioning wide-eyed gaze of the young operatives watching them for what to do next.

"Nothing to say. I know as much about what's going to go on in the conference as they do."

Arthur took the opportunity to fill the room in on the little amount of what he knew before the lights went dark and they were patched through to the Swedish Security Service, who on this and many other occasions a neutral proxy between the US and North Korean government relations. All he knew was that they had information on the whereabouts of a missing CIA agent and a civilian who accompanied him.

After a short debriefing by their Scandinavian counterparts as to why this was arranged, the feed broke and the next 10 minutes were an exercise in agonizing anticipation as they looked upon a blank screen that may or may not decide the fate of one of their own. The blue loading bar seemingly taunting everyone in the room.

It came to a stop.

There was a black pixelated overlay tone and some muffled microphone sounds until the first image they saw was a... ceiling-the image slowly craning down until it came upon two familiar figures as it pulled into focus.

They were sitting next to each other, hands bound, clad in warn beige clothing, neither of them looked to be in the best of health; they were both skinny and haggard and pale looking.

Annie's heart dropped. She didn't know which emotion was going to win the war that waged between relief and panic as she watched onwards.

Molly hesitantly began to speak as if reading from cue cards in front of her;  
>"I Molly Harker along with August Anderson are being held captive from within a secured facility in North Korea." the young girls voice was shaky and reluctant, and the look in her brown eyes- not all that dissimilar from Auggie's, told a thousand different shades of fear. "The North Korean government is willing to make arrangements for our release in exchange for all materials and persons responsible for Project Golden Eagle, if this cannot be arranged we also might consider a full working prototype built from within the safety of your own country. If a deal is not met within 48 hours of this conference I, along with August Anderson, will be taken to hard labor camps where we will be held indefinitely."<p>

Auggie was silent- expression undeterminable, at her side as she read.

"As long as you agree to your end, we will not be harmed. On that, the DPRK give you their word. This is a very simple choice; a device that you didn't find important enough to continue, for the lives of two of your country's citizens. Choose wisely-"

"TELL MY SISTER NOT TO WORRY. TO ASK THAT HERO OUT!" Auggie blurted out suddenly.

**BOOM!**

The room was set alight just before the feed cut off, leaving the entire room full of agents in a state of shock.

"Auggie doesn't have a sister..." Annie broke the silence in an effort to quell her own fears that she had just witnessed the death of her friend.

Joan shot up out of her seat with purpose and left the room, over shoulder she yelled to the others without stopping; " I want everything and anything connected to South Korean covert missions that are currently ongoing pertaining to the north."

"It's an anagram." Jai said to Annie after seeing her trying to connect dots that were not yet clear to her. "Auggie had his own collection of them he used as codes during his glory days. Its hokey and ridiculous, but its entirely him. I remember my look of confusion when he radioed in his request for _"a active training pen,"_ when he was secretly being held captive in Argentina. Only Joan knows all of them."

"So his sister... that's Joan right? A message meant directly for her?"

"Right," Jai looked around to the minions that still seemed to be staring at the blank screen screen. "you heard the woman. Get to work." At that Auggie's team scampered into action.

Annie turned towards Jai, eyes wide and hopeful; "so there's a pretty good chance he's ok right? The message- that was just... like a show?"

"It looked real enough to me," it came out before he knew he said it. His arrogance against other's emotions came to play so poorly at all the wrong moments. The whiplashed look Annie gave him in return before she stormed out- his only evidence that he'd even handled that badly.

* * *

><p>Annie stared at the clouds below her from her seat on the plane. Seeing them floating by always had a way of relaxing her worries, but not today. Those worries were far to grand to suppress.<p>

After they were stone walled by the NIS-denying any activity _at all _happening north of their borders Annie convinced Joan to let her fly over and see if she could try a different angle. The 'Annie approach' where enough smiles and sunny personality got her the results she needed...usually.

She got the thinking of previous discussions she'd had with Auggie about the plights of air travel. There he was again. Always in her head.

Recalling the picture Joan had showed her of Auggie and the story that went with it to reassure herself.

"_Did you miss me?"_

_I sure do _she thought.

It was that moment when she realized she was not stepping foot off of Korean soil without his hand around her arm.

* * *

><p>Ok now that we got that over with we can get back to the interesting stuff next chapter.<p> 


	12. Unexpected Allies

*******Author's note***

**So sorry for the long hiatus. I truly didn't mean to make you guys hang like that. I hate it when Authors just abandon their stories without any rhyme or reason, but unfortunately real life work stuck its pesty demanding head into my writing schedule and 'effed it the hell up. So without further adieu here is the continuation to my sorted tale of Auggie's giant clusterf*ck mission.**

**This is the second parter to the last chapter. And we're entering the climax of the story here people!**

**Chapter 12**

_6 hours earlier..._

_The sound of the door slamming in the backround meant that he and this new man were now alone in the small room, he had a pretty good idea about what comes next..._

The first punch was a heavy blow to the stomach which made Auggie collapse forward and the man released him from his grip letting him fall to the ground. Hearing the footsteps coming closer again, Auggie backed up as best he could but he was cornered and he knew it. This time it was a hard kick to his side curling him up into a ball until a pair of hands gripped at his shirt once again and threw him across the room and up against the far wall where he lay tired and disoriented.

This wasn't a fair fight. Under any other circumstances Auggie could easily take this man but not after enduring the last 10 days he had. He was exhausted both mentally and physically, was suffering from malnutrition, and to top off all the fun, was now nursing a throbbing sprained ankle.

_'Oh good here he comes again' _he thought, bracing himself for another round when a beep went off and the footsteps stopped in their tracks and changed directions. Auggie didn't know what he was doing but from the sounds of it he seemed to be scurrying around the room looking for something.

The man must have caught Auggie's look of sheer surprise and utter confusion because the next thing he knew he was being told, in English, that he was temporarily covering all the audio surveillance.

That peaked his interest. "who are you?" Auggie asked as he cocked his head to the side trying to figure this out. The man spoke English well enough but his accent was heavily Korean. _...so he must be one of two things; a North Korean dissident, or a South Korean intelligence officer under cover_ he thought. "who are you with?"

After thoroughly covering all mic's the man rushed over and crouched down towards Auggie who still laid on his side up against the wall. "Please Mr. Anderson we have very little time," checking his watch as he continued in a quiet but rushed whisper; "my name is Agent Kwan, I work deep cover for the NIS, as does the two agents who are currently in the tower feeding a loop through the surveillance video. That is the reason I beat you, I'm very sorry but we needed a couple minutes of footage that appeared genuine to anyone else remotely monitoring it. We have about 5 minutes before my men cut the loop so it doesn't become suspicious. Scream."

Auggie obliged and Agent Kwan banged his fist into the wall before continuing; "I believe I may be able to help you escape," he said as he reached into his pocket and pressed a small flat device into the blind agents hand. "that is a small detonator. Put it somewhere safe on your skin and do not remove the strip from the back until you hear footsteps approaching to come and take you to the conference. Once that strip is pulled..."

"I'm aware of the technology," Auggie assured him. As far as high tech was concerned this method of taping a flat adhesive-similar to a blood pressure patch- to your skin that encased a button directly linked to an explosive device is fairly old school.

Auggie screamed again and Agent Kwan smashed the food tray against the wall.

"good. Then you'll know that its linked to a chain of explosives I've already hidden in several places in the makeshift conference room they are setting up for later today. They are located towards the back and left and right sides of the room where all the building guards and soldiers will be standing while you and the girl make your broadcast. When you feel it is time, press the button and get down until I give you two pats on the shoulder and escort the two of you towards the escape route."

"Ok. I have a better idea, I'll give you a heads up; when you hear me say on camera _"tell my sister not to worry. To ask that hero out" _that's your cue to make your way to a safe-but nearby location seconds before I push the detonator."

Agent Kwan looked Auggie over and decided the man was capable of handling the task.

"Maybe you should spend the rest of the time pretending to beat the living shit out of me again," Auggie suggested, reading the man's silence as a finality to the conversation.

Agent Kwan happily obliged.

…...

5:30pm KST, (3:30 am EST)

Auggie hobbled out of his room as best as he could, his arm around his guide, Sung Jae-hwa for support. "Stop. This isn't going to work, Jae, can I call you that? are you even guiding me?" when he heard a grunt from the other man he continued, "you need to be paying attention to where your taking me, and you can't do that correctly if I'm baring all my weight on you. How far is the room your taking us to anyway?"

Whether it was guilt for what he inflicted on the poor man earlier or just trying to get to the room more quickly, Auggie didn't know, he was just glad when he felt a large stick pressed into his left hand a few minutes later while Sung Jae-hwa switched to take his right.

"Thanks." Auggie said, trying to mask the glee in his voice that he was just handed a personal weapon. They walked a little further until he heard the unmistakeable voice of...

"AUGGIE!..." Molly screamed as she rushed out of her room and towards him. She didn't mean to sound like a overly excited school girl- but after hearing what she heard from the room opposite her, she was just overly happy to see that he was ok...mostly.

"Don't hug me. It will hurt like a bitch," he said correctly anticipating her next move.

"sorry," she said as she stopped in her tracks. Seeing a bit of purple sticking out below the ripped neck of his shirt, she pulled it revealing a telling story of exactly what happened in that room. She was about to ask why? when her eyes caught something else, discretely, pulling the shirt down further she found blood... blood in the form of a message just below his collarbone on the left side that read;

'we have help. Follow my lead'

Her eyes snapped up to his immediately and she pulled the shirt back up with a light tap hopefully sending him the message that she found it.

Their brief reunion was cut short when they both felt the all too familiar feeling of guns pressed against their backs.

"please follow me." Yi Kyu-Min said as she led the prisoners and the heavily armed entourage that surrounded them into the room with the video equipment.

It was dark when they entered except for the well lit area with two chairs and a white backround and the camera tripod set up opposite the arrangement. The room itself, was large with high ceilings but still no windows.

There were already quite a few people in the room when they arrived. Some looked to be high ranking soldiers amongst the regular looking uniformed guards, others, dressed in business suits and would not have looked out of place if they had just stepped out of the business district in Manhattan. Recalling her image of the people on the streets earlier, these were far from normal North Korean civilians, no, these were part of the privileged few who came to watch the show.

Yi Kyu-min directed the two of them to their designated seats in front of the camera. As they sat side by side she brought over a set of large flash cards. "Molly, you read these," she said handing her a stack, "and August you read these,"

_Really? Do these people communicate with each other at all... _he thought. "ahhh Min, small problem there..."

Molly snorted trying to hold back her laughter, which in turn made himself laugh. Whether it was the lack of a proper diet, or stress, or the fatigue, this became a lot more hilarious than it obviously was and they both sat there cracking each other up.

Auggie's laughter quickly died in its tracks when probing hands begun touching his face "what the..."

"Its a makeup lady, rub it out," Molly said discretely as she watched Sung Jae-hwa occupied over in the corner filling her personal guide in on Auggie's situation.

Auggie knew exactly what she was referring too and grabbed at the front of his tee, "can you please stop. I look fine. All your going to do is make me more nervous, and ultimately more pissed off-looking on camera," he said angrily as he batted away the person responsible with his right hand and skillfully rubbed at his chest with the left in one quick motion.

"Mr. Anderson we want you to look your best in front of the camera. I don't want to make my associate return and hold you down."

"fine." Auggie said as he stopped fighting.

Molly watched the makeup woman as she began to pull Auggie's shirt down to mask the bruising visible on his chest. She held her breath until she saw the smeer of blood that once held a message blended into the rest of his colorful bruises.

"Mrs. Harker, you will now be reading the full message by yourself," said Yi Kyu-Min with a look of slight apprehension. "please. Do not stray from what is written, or there will be... consequences." Molly gave a nod of agreement to the older woman, and she turned to the group surrounding them and said something authoratative in Korean and began to brace prepare for the live broadcast. Turning back to Molly again she said "begin now."

Molly paused a moment, seeing the blinking red light; her only window to the world she was so desperate to get back to. Finally she gathered her strength and began to speak reading the words displayed with shaking hands. She had no idea what was going to happen, but she was pretty sure whatever it was was going to happen here, possibily at any second and it could either work or fail horribly. She didn't want her final words to be some stupid ransom that she was forced to recite. That was what scared her the most.

To Auggie, the seconds seemed to dragging to hours as he sat silently, poised and ready with his finger resting just below the spot on his thigh where he hid the detonator. He had figured he'd be sitting when they would be on camera and the most natural position would be with his hands atop his lap. He was waiting for just the right opportunity to catch them all offguard and was praying to a god- he gave up long ago, that Joan hadn't forgotten his old anagram system.

_"As long as you agree to your end, we will not be harmed. On that, the DPRK give you their word."_

_Alright here we go _he thought as the tone of Molly's voice settled into a lower, more resolute tone- instead of the high and shaky one she began reading with. She was coming to a close. He ghosted his hand directly above the button, his face: a wall of stone, while inwardly every muscle in his body was tense with adrenaline.

"_This is a very simple choice; a device that you didn't find important enough to continue, for the lives of two of your country's citizens. Choose wisely-"_

It was time.

He blurted out the message and then pressed down against his thigh while pushing Molly forward onto the ground with his other in one fluid movement.

Chaos seemed to be reining down around him as deafening noises and heat washed over him. Still splayed on the ground he reached a hand over to Molly, who was no doubt confused and terrified as all hell. Her shaking body confirmed this. Inching closer to her as another explosion flared to life at his left, he covered her as best he could before debris could hit her. He'd been through this himself before, but he would be damned if she had to suffer from it.

They laid on the ground like that for several minutes as time had seem to come to a standstill while the chaos continued. Agent Kwan wasn't kidding when he'd said a 'chain of explosives' -they obviously wanted to make sure that anyone in that room besides the both of them, were full and well terminated.

Dust was heavy in the air when the ringing in his ears finally receded enough to make out distinct sounds. Mortal screams filled the air along with the swelled moans of the building trying to hold its wounded foundation together, and the smell of blood and industrial ruin flooded his senses. Finding the ordeal to be momentarily over with he rolled off of a still crying Molly who had not yet spoken a single word. Only moments later the sound of footsteps crunching glass could be heard running towards them both.

"Come Mr. Anderson. We have to get out of here now. No time." It was Agent Kwan's hurried voice. He had come through for them. He had made it.


End file.
